Learning To Share
by Quantumphysica
Summary: "Okay, so I have to share a body with a mortal. But why for Odin's sake did it have to be such an ugly mortal!" Loki wakes up and finds himself in the body of the 17-year-old Lori. Little problem: Lori is in there as well... How will our favorite god of mischief cope sharing a head with a chubby bigmouthed redhead? No mushy Loki/OC!
1. Chapter 1

It was dark and everything hurt. Where had he ended up? The memories of his trial were vague… What had the Allfather decided? Whatever it was, he felt as if they had dragged him behind Sleipnir over a very rough surface. Loki tried to open his eyes. His whole body felt weird, wrong, as if… He managed to open his eyes and immediately noticed two rather conspicuous bumps on his chest. Carefully he fuddled them. Yeah, just as he had thought. Boobs. The Allfather had turned him into a woman. Loki wanted to pull his hair in frustration, and immediately did so. That was when the second unpleasant surprise hit him.

"AAAH!"

A girlish scream came out of Loki's mouth, and he was pretty certain he had not consciously screamed. Also, he felt he had lost control over his limbs completely. What in the Allfather's name was going on?

"Great. A nightmare. Urgh."

Not his voice, not his thoughts. Definitely not his thoughts. Loki felt confused and tried again to move, finding it impossible. Involuntarily his body moved up from what appeared to be a bed, and his hands rubbed his eyes.

"Fuck. Why did I wake up so early on a freaking Sunday?"

Loki couldn't stand hearing thoughts go through his head that weren't his.

"What in the Allfather's name is this? Who are you and what are you doing in my head?"

Immediately the body tensed up.

"Oh god. I'm hearing voices. I'm fucking hearing voices."

Loki looked around in the room, and now saw it was a fairly typical Midgardian bedroom. He started to realize what had happened... Somehow he had gotten stuck in the body of a Midgardian female. The other voice in his head was most likely the woman he now shared a body with. She carefully said.

"Okay… Test. Voice, are you there?"

"Of course I am here, you infuriating mortal! It's not as if I can get out here!"

"Err… Rude much? And err… where exactly are you?"

"In your head, you bumbling oaf!"

The girl dropped her head in her hands.

"Shit. I'm really going crazy. Dear god, how did I ever make up such a rude internal voice?"

"You did not make me up, silly mortal wench! I am Loki of Asgard, God of Mischief and Lies!"

"I'm just going to ignore it. I'm going to ignore it and then the voice will go away. That's right Lori, we're just going to ignore it."

Loki hated being ignored, but there wasn't much he could do about it. The mortal woman went to her closet, grabbed some clothes and made her way to what Loki supposed was the bathroom. There, surprise number three hit.

"HOLY FUCK!"

In the mirror stood a young girl of about seventeen years old in her underwear, coppery red curls, freckles, slightly chubby, and behind her stood Loki in full battle armour, towering over her by about two heads, horns not included. The girl was clearly in shock. Loki looked in disgust at the slight love handles, bitten nails and unkempt hair of the girl and exclaimed.

"Okay, so I have to share a body with a mortal. But why for Odin's sake did it have to be such an ugly mortal?!"

The girl's mouth fell open. She clenched her fists I front of the mirror, and Loki could see how an expression of both hurt and anger came onto her face. Good. If they thought he would be nice to this mortal they had been gravely mistaken.

"You… you…"

Not being able to hit the mean Norse god, the girl started crying.

"Don't you think it's already hard enough for me to look like this? I really don't need a fucking hallucination to tell me how fat and ugly I am, thank you very much Mr what was it again of mischief and lies! You pull my hair, you curse at me, you call me ugly, what the fuck did I do to you to deserve this? Why don't you just go away and go back to your freaking hot looking male body with your badass spear and your stupid horns!"

"The horns. Are. Not. Stupid."

The girl laughed hysterically, and Loki could simply feel how her body overreacted. Not good. Oh, so not good.

"This I have again. Of course! The universe hates me! Well, hear this universe, Lori Lauritsen hates you too! And you, Mr Horny Helmet, go away and let me get back to bed so I can pretend this never happened!"

Loki knew he had to do something to calm the girl; otherwise she might damage the body he unfortunately had to use as well.

"Could you please, please stop crying? I… err… I just meant that in comparison to the goddesses I know you are rather plain."

"Not. Helping."

"Seriously, what was it, Lori? I didn't ask for this either, if you must know. This is my conviction, my community service so to say."

"Yay. So I have a convicted criminal in my head. You know, that just makes me so happy on a Sunday morning. Not."

Lori appeared to have stopped crying, so that was positive. She had put on jeans trousers and a dark blue sweater, and Loki cringed feeling how the pants were actually a size too small.

"Your pants don't fit."

"Thank you for noticing, Mr Smartass. What was your name again?"

"Loki. Loki… Laufeyson."

If Odin cursed him to living like this, he would be damned if he called himself Odin's son…

"Very unpleasant to meet you, Mr Laufeyson. I'm Lori Lauritsen. Our names are rather similar."

"Yes. They are."

"So, what do I call you? Loki? Mr Laufeyson? I don't think I can take you seriously with that helmet though. Do you always wear that?"

"Just Loki will do. Although I would prefer if you wouldn't address me at all, actually. I have no interest whatsoever in the businesses of you pathetic mortals and there is absolutely nothing you could tell me that I could possibly want to know."

"If you want me to shut up, you'll have to return the favour. It seems you're the kind of guy who likes to hear his voice a bit too much."

"I have no obligation towards you, mortal! You should be honoured I lower myself to even address you!"

"Exactly what I thought. Seriously though, if you don't shut up I'm gonna mentally sew your mouth shut."

Lori wasn't sure she could do that, probably not, but it did have the right effect. Loki's mirror image went all pale.

"Not again…"

"Wait, are you saying you have actually had your mouth sewn shut?" Lori asked incredulously. Loki frowned and said with a voice so sharp it could have cut through metal.

"Yes."

Lori raised her eyebrows.

"Well, I can see why."

Loki was boiling internally. He was stuck in the body of an ugly, underage mortal with a big mouth and absolutely no respect for his status… He would have to change that. Oh, soon this pathetic little quim would quiver in fear and recognize him as her lord and master! Loki's thoughts were interrupted by a stroke of pain on his scalp.

"Aaah!"

"Yeah, hair pulling. Not so nice is it?"

It appeared the mortal was combing her hair. How was it possible this hurt so much? It never hurt when he combed his hair!

"What are you DOING, mortal?"

"Combing my hair, duh. Curls are hell. By the way, my name is Lori, not Mortal. Please refer to me as Lori, or don't refer to me at all. I would prefer the last one."

Loki raised one eyebrow in the mirror, and Lori scowled at him.

"Yeah. I'm about as happy as you are to have you in my head, so keep quiet and leave me alone."

Loki pursed his lips, but didn't say anything. The threat of having his mouth sewn shut was fresh in his memory, and although he didn't know if this mortal would be capable of doing so, he rather not take the chance…

_ (Pagebreak)_

Loki managed to maintain silence for about… ten minutes. Then he felt the need to comment on the greasy donuts Lori was eating in front of the television.

"I can't believe you're watching a weight loss program while eating this junk."

Lori, who had just managed to forget about the whole Norse-God-Who-Lives-In-Her-Head incident, sighed in defeat.

"Fuck, Loki. Ten minutes. Is that a record for you?"

"What is it with fat mortals and disgustingly fat food? Birds of a feather, I suppose…"

"Could you stop insulting me?"

"Not until you stop ruining your already less-than-perfect body, you insolent shrew!"

"I do, what I want."

Lori said, and she stuffed a whole donut in her mouth, simply to annoy Loki. The god cringed at the awfully sugary taste.

"Is this your breakfast? Are you even surprised that you look like Volstagg after the annual Yule banquet?"

That wasn't true, she fitted about three times in Volstagg, but a little exaggeration never hurt.

"You know Loki, insults only work when the insulted knows what you're talking about."

"You are fat. That's what I'm talking about."

"And you're unoriginal. You go from incomprehensible to plain lame, never heard of the happy medium?"

"You are definitely not a Medium. More like an Extra Large."

"So clothing sizes you do know. Of course. I already guessed you were gay, thanks for the confirmation."

The weight loss program and the box of donuts were all forgotten as Lori and Loki continued to argue over Lori's suspected overweight and Loki's attraction to men. In the end they just settled for persistently ignoring each other, causing an uncomfortable mental silence. Loki wanted to hit himself. Of course Odin hadn't picked a nice, compliant, awe-struck little mortal for him to take over. No, he got an unruly Miss Bigmouth. Argh... Loki already felt sorry for himself, after an hour in this woman's body. That promised for the coming time…

**(Author's Notes)**

**Yeah, this little thing just popped up in my head... Please review, I will be grateful forever! Critics and suggestions are welcomed warmly as well... **


	2. Chapter 2

"Lori dear, don't watch TV all day, will you?"

Lori had exchanged her donuts for a plate of microwave macaroni while watching any show she came across. Loki had curled up in her head and tried to ignore it all while wallowing in self-pity. Now a tall, muscled man with curly read hair and a beard stood in the door opening, shaking his head.

"Dad, it's Sunday!"

"There must be something you can do, baby carrot."

Inside, Loki laughed out loud.

"Baby Carrot! By the Norns!"

Lori winced and sighed.

"Fine dad, I'll go take a walk."

"Walking to the kitchen and back is not a walk."

"I meant outside, dad."

Annoyed, Lori slipped into her coat and shoes. It was bad enough having an impossibly healthy bodybuilder dad without having a Norse god inside her head making fun of her. Outside, when she was certain no one could hear her, she screamed.

"Loki Laufeyson shut your big trap!"

"As you wish… baby carrot." Again, mean laughter filled Lori's head. Defeated, she plopped down on a park bench. That of course gained her comments.

"Seriously, you can't even stand up for five minutes? Too much trouble dragging your weight with you?"

"Why are you so mean to me?"

It was a remarkably honest question. Loki scowled.

"Because I'm stuck in your ugly body and because I have no idea how to get out and because you are infuriating!"

Lori sighed deeply, and Loki felt she was crying again.

"Do mortal females don't do anything but cry, seriously?"

"You have no idea how to get out, you say? Well, I can sadly enough say the same. More, I can safely assume I hate this body more than you do. I am fat. I am ugly. I am bigmouthed. Don't you think I know those things without you throwing them in my face all the time? It's enough that my dad does it."

Loki knew he should be happy he broke the little mortal's moral, but… he wasn't. He just listened to Lori as she went on.

"Do sports, eat healthy, go on a diet, stop eating all the same! Don't you think I've tried to be better? It's never good enough. I'm just not a supermodel-thin little miss perfect and I never will be. I'm fat, short and a total failure. Oh and since I'm actually telling this to a voice in my head I'm also batshit crazy."

"You're… you're not THAT short."

Lori raised an eyebrow.

"What was that? Did you just actually make an attempt at cheering me up?"

"No, just stating the truth. You're not that much shorter than other Midgardian females."

"Do you want to believe that's not what my dad thinks? He keeps showing me these vitamins and stuff hoping I will grow."

"So… where's your mother in all this?"

"Dead and gone. Well, not dead. Very much gone. To Australia, living with this scuba diving instructor type. Apparently even a more muscled bloke than my dad."

"Oh. I see."

"So, I spilled my guts to you. Your turn."

"Not happening, little mortal. You have no business with my life."

"Unfortunately I do, you live in my head. Come on, spill."

The little bit of pity he had felt for the girl faded. Loki growled.

"Keep out of things that don't concern you, fatty!"

Lori sighed, got up and continued her walk though the park, blatantly ignoring Loki. She had figured that was the best way to deal with it, just ignore him.

Lori waited until she was sure her uninvited guest was asleep. It was an odd feeling, having a sleeping person in her head, a bit like carrying a heavy bag… Then she sat down behind her computer. Time to do a little research on Mr Rude-and-Mysterious… She almost immediately had results.

"Wow. So my head is a jail cell for the guy who tried to rule the world?"

In a way, Lori found that funny. If there were one way this so-called god would learn humility it would be by sharing her fat excuse of a body… Even if he would manage to take her over –now that was a creepy thought- no one would ever take him seriously as a potential global dictator in her body. There was a knock on her door, and her father peaked in.

"Baby carrot, it's 11 pm. You should go to sleep now!"

"Dad, I'm 17. Could you please not call me that?"

"You're 17, and you're my baby carrot, and you know I love you."

"Dad!"

"Good night Lori…"

Lori rested her head in her hands. She loved her father, really, but sometimes she found him… what had Loki called it? Infuriating. Not to mention the way he looked at her, as if… as if she was a disgrace. Not when they were alone, but always when others were around, as if he was ashamed of her. Lori guessed it wasn't all that surprising. After all her father was a health freak with the body of a god… Tss, Loki should hear her think that… Lore realized it was frightening how quickly that evil, helmet-bearing creep had wormed himself a way into her thoughts. Feeling slightly uneasy she made her way to her bed.

_(Pagebreak)_

Loki was dreaming strange things. His dreams featured toothbrushes being stuck too far in this mouth, decapitating Laufey -but all of a sudden the frost giant had the face of Lori's father-, and special torture pants designed to make him feel as uncomfortable as possible by squeezing his legs tighter and tighter. He wasn't used to dreaming that detailed, and frankly he could say he didn't like it…

The next morning, Lori yawned and got up to the sound of her radio clock, having completely forgotten the whole Norse-God-Debacle. The wonders of a good night rest… No wonder seeing Loki's reflection in the mirror caused her to scream.

"Please don't tell me you had already forgotten about me, mortal. I knew you Midgardians had small memory capacity but that would be beyond acceptable."

"I held the hope that you and your rudeness and your stupid helmet were a product of my imagination after all."

Lori frowned at Loki.

"Plus, it's Lori not Mortal. I know I'm mortal, it's stating the obvious."

"You mean I could as well call you 'woman' or 'fat'?"

"It's too early for jokes at the expense of me and my extra pounds, Loki. I had the weirdest dream ever tonight, I cut a girl's hair and it turned all black, totally like in that Disney movie, "Tangled". And then there was this annoying blonde bloke following me everywhere through a labyrinth of books. Seriously, it's too early to mock me I'm still trying to come to terms with it all."

So the mortal wench had dreamed of his life… Loki felt mildly violated, but the fact she called Thor an "annoying bloke" made up for it. His mirror image pointed at a toothbrush.

"What is that thing for?"

Lori raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously, are you telling me you've never seen a toothbrush before? It's a special brush to clean your teeth. Look, I'll show you how it works."

Lori started brushing her teeth, leaving Loki to wonder why he had dreamed of such an unusual use for this Midgardian tool.

"Do you use it for other things too?"

"Wha? Cwant twalk mouthshfull of tshoothspashte."

Lori spit out the toothpaste and cleaned her brush.

"Other things? Well, I have heard of people being obliged to clean the floors with it… Perhaps they should have let you do that instead of locking you inside my head."

"You have no idea of what punishment is like, mortal."

"And we're there again. Let's make a deal. As long as you call me "mortal", I either ignore you are call you something equally annoying. Like "puny"."

Loki shut up about that. How did she know about that? What had she…

"Ah, the godly big trap is closed at long last… blissful silence…"

"How did you know about that!?"

"I did some research, hoping to find a way to exorcise you from my head."

"I will not be released before the Allfather decides to do so."

"Who the hell is this Allfather type anyway?"

"My fathe- he's the king of Asgard."

Loki quickly made up for his lapse, but not quickly enough. Lori chuckled.

"Dude. It's your dad, isn't it?"

That made Loki really, really angry.

"You don't know anything, you gruesome, pathetic little mortal!"

"Whatever you say, Puny."

"AAARGH!"

Lori couldn't help but chuckle. Making that creep in her head loose his cool was a sport in itself… Her father called from downstairs that she had to hurry, so she made sure she got downstairs as quickly as possible. Loki was sulking inside her head, and Lori dared to hope that perhaps, maybe, he would let her be for the rest of the day…

_(Pagebreak)_

It didn't happen often that Loki met someone who could challenge Stark in obnoxiousness. Of course, it didn't really help Lori's case that Loki couldn't remove himself from her person, literally. He decided to just sit and wait for now, and see what would happen. In school he noticed quite a few things. The first was that Lori didn't really have friends. It wasn't that she was a pariah, not at all, but there didn't appear to be anyone she had a relationship with going deeper than the usual hello-goodbye. The second was that Lori was quite intelligent. He should have guessed so, since her resemblance to Stark, but it still came as a surprise to see that she had little trouble with her classes. Loki liked to think of mortals as stupid ants, and he didn't like to be proven wrong. His third observation was made in the dressing room for Physical Education.

Lori tried to ignore the god standing behind her in the mirror, but it was hard. Loki decided to give her an extra hard time by staring very deliberately at her. That was when he noticed the bizarre brown spots on the redhead's skin. They weren't the same as the freckles in her face; instead they were darker and bigger. Loki wondered how he had missed them the first time he had seen Lori in her underwear.

The girl apparently heard him think, so she gruffly whispered.

"Birth marks. They are birth marks, and don't you make fun of them."

The whispering had not been a good idea.

"Hey, carrot top! You talking to yourself?"

One of the other girls in the dressing room grinned viciously at Lori. It was a situation that felt all too familiar for Loki, having had similar things in the training rooms of Asgard when he was younger. Lori turned to face the girl that had spoken, a tall brunette with long sleek hair and a perfectly shaped figure.

"No Liz, why?"

"Oh nothing, I was just pretty certain I heard you talk to your reflection. Convincing it to stay, perhaps? I'm surprised it hasn't ran off already like that mother of yours."

Loki could feel the blood seep to Lori's cheeks.

"Don't insult my mother!"

"I'm not insulting her carrot, I'm just stating the obvious. Any mother would have run off if she pushed out a daughter like you, really."

Oh no. Loki knew the feeling that now rushed through Lori's body, it was the same as when he had insulted her. She was about to cry. This required intervention. With his sternest voice –one he had secretly copied from Odin- he spoke.

"Lori Lauritsen, if you dare to cry I swear I'll let my daughter feed you to Nidhogg!"

It didn't have the effect needed. Lori bit her lip, put her clothes back on, and left the dressing room without changing into her PE uniform. She ran into a small chamber at the end of a hallway marked "girl's sickbay". There she collapsed on a bunk bed and started crying her eyes out. Loki felt awkward… he had never felt any desire to get acquainted with Aesir teenage girls back in Asgard, so the sheer drama of it all sort of surprised him.

"Ah well, at least you didn't cry in front of them. That would have been too humiliating."

Lori snorted in the dirty pillow and groaned.

"Could you… for once… shut up? It's bad enough, okay? Just… shut up."

And Loki shut up. Because despite his disgust for the mortal female, he knew all too well how she felt.

**(Author's Notes)**

**Yeah, I made Lori a bullying victim. Nothing terrible, just the usual mean girls shit. Please REVIEW! I live on reviews, they make my day! suggestions are welcomed too!**


	3. Chapter 3

"There is something I don't understand."

"That's a first."

"Hold it, Mortal."

"Right back at you, Puny."

"See? This is what I don't understand. I am a god, I have killed thousands in many different worlds including yours, and yet you talk back at me like this!"

"Maybe that's because you live in my head and wear a ridiculous helmet. As I told you before, the helmet makes taking you serious rather difficult."

"My helmet is not ridiculous."

"Yes it is."

"Why do you talk back at me like it's nothing, but run away when some random mortal quim insults you? You are clearly capable enough of defending yourself, so why suffer humiliation?"

Lori laughed sarcastically.

"If I needed any more proof you are definitely not from this planet, there we have it."

"What?"

Loki was honestly surprised. The logic in Lori's behaviour was completely lost on him... An explanation followed quickly afterwards when Lori poked in her own stomach.

"There you have your reason."

"Mortal, be clear to me!"

"I'm fat, okay Puny? Never heard of social order? Fatties are on the bottom, together with the rats and the autistic train spotters. We're not supposed to talk back, because people like Liz Harrison have every right to insult us. Because we are fat and they are not."

"That's just stupid."

"You know… I knew fat was bad even before I could look in the mirror. My parents were always joking about the fatties at the gym they went to, and how they struggled with the simplest exercises, making it sound as if simply having overweight made you a bad person. Can you imagine the dread I felt when I looked in the mirror and realized I was exactly what my parents hated?"

"I can imagine."

Loki said it without thinking it through. Lori scoffed at his answer.

"Yeah right. You are all lean and handsome and fucking hot, I don't think you've ever faced a single insult for your looks ever! What would you know about my problem?"

"More than you might think."

Loki's voice was soft, and it made Lori shut up. She didn't know anything about her head-companion; it was indeed a bit unfair to assume he had never faced a problem like it. Loki thought about what she had told him. Fat people in Asgard were rather uncommon, but not at all rare, with Volstagg as the best example of this. Loki had never had the idea that there was any general contempt for the body shape apart from some innocent jests. He himself was disgusted with the decadence, laziness and excess leading to it, but not really with the fat itself…

Lori's story bore stunning similarities with his own one, but he tried not to think of that. There was a huge difference between being a Frost Giant and being fat, right? Mostly that you could do something about being fat awhile you couldn't really change your heritage…

_(Pagebreak)_

Loki pondered over his situation while listening half to the conversation at the dinner table. It was a slightly awkward situation, Lori facing her dad at the table, both with a plate full of lettuce, potatoes and meat. It didn't escape the god's attention that Lori's portion of meat was pathetically small in comparison with what her dad ate. When she took a second portion, he also caught the very disapproving look of Mr Lauritsen.

"Lori dear… I have something to tell you."

"Oh?"

"I have made an appointment for you with Dr Trachtenberg."

"Who is that? And why, I'm not sick?"

The muscled man sighed and folded his big hands trying to look contemplative.

"Dr Trachtenberg is specialized in teenage obesity. It's for your own good, Baby Carrot."

Lori's mouth fell open.

"What? You… You can't do that! I'm not even obese!"

"You've been growing fatter every year now, and I hoped you would muster the character to get out of it yourself, but since you don't seem to manage… I thought a professional might help you. If you don't do anything about it you WILL be obese in a couple of years, Lori. Do you have any idea how high the health risk is when you're this fat in your young years?"

Lori shoved her plate aside and got up from the table.

"Why thank you dad! Why don't you schedule a liposuction for me as well, when you're on a roll anyway? It's not like it's my body anyway, is it?"

She ran from the kitchen, and Loki heard how her father yelled after her.

"Lori! I'm just trying to help sweetie! I know it's not easy for you since mom is gone but…"

The rest was lost when Lori threw the door close and stormed to her room.

"That asshole! How dare he! How DARE he?"

She punched her fist into the wall with all the anger she could gather and then stared surprised at the dent in the wall. Next she started rubbing her hand and cursed in pain. Loki rolled his eyes at her behavior.

"Lori, for a relatively intelligent mortal you can act pretty stupid."

He only got a string of curses as an answer, not what he had expected since he had made her something that could pass for a compliment, if you squinted a bit. When the painful hand had finally been dealt with though (hand under the water in the bathroom), she sighed at him in the mirror.

"Seriously Loki… What father does a thing like that?"

"Make an appointment with a healer for you without your consent?" He chuckled darkly. "I can imagine worse things for a father to do."

"Like what?"

"A father leaving his child to die because it's not strong enough for his taste?"

Lori's eyes widen.

"Dude, that's freaking illegal."

Mortals. Sometimes they called for that gesture… what was it? A face-palm.

"Illegal doesn't mean that it can't happen."

"Are you saying that happened to you? Because seriously I don't believe you. You're like the tallest person I've ever seen, and I'm pretty sure my dad wouldn't win a game of arm-wrestling from you."

Loki shook his head, trying to get away from the subject. He really didn't want to discuss his adoption and the circumstances of it with this insolent mortal female.

"Your father has a point you know. Mortals are susceptible to illness even when they're in good condition, and you're not exactly…"

Loki didn't finish his sentence, but it was clear what he meant. Lori rolled her eyes.

"I get it, okay? Even the possibly imaginary dude in my head thinks I'm fat. I get it."

"I'm not imaginary, Mortal!"

"You live in my head, Puny. How am I to be sure?"

Loki wanted to answer, but then the voice of Mr Lauritsen boomed through the hall.

"Lori, who are you talking to?"

"Friends, dad! Ever heard of cell phones? Go away!"

"We have to discuss this as a family!"

"A family? We have no family! This is no family, and if I could choose you would NOT BE MY DAD! I HATE YOU!"

Loki couldn't help but pinch his eyes close, trying to shut out the wave of confusing feelings he received from Lori. Midgardian girls made more drama than the goddess Freya when he had accidentally married her off to a dwarf…

When the shouting match was over and Lori's father had left the premises, Lori sank on the floor, her back against the bathroom door.

"I hate him so bad…"

"Do you?"

"This just went too far. I'm not going to that asshole doctor no matter what he says."

"I thought you wanted to be thin?"

"I don't want him to be right, okay? I don't want to be fucking too weak to have done it on my own!"

"That's… childish."

The moment Loki spoke those words he realized how true they actually were. Denying help because you didn't want to accept someone was right? Definitely childish… It showed how little maturity Lori actually possessed… And hating her father? She didn't hate him, he was sure she didn't, it was just teenage drama…

"Loki?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

That was the moment he realized he had been "thinking aloud"…

_(Pagebreak)_

When Loki woke up he realized Lori was still asleep. Rejoicing the pleasure of having a body, be it a fat and female one, he stretched out and carefully made his way to the bathroom. When he looked in the mirror… he saw only one mirror image: his. When he concentrated though he could see Lori's form as well. Curiously he studied the girl's birthmarks. They were strange blackish brown dots, spread over her body in what almost looked like constellations. It was as if a network of invisible lines ran over Lori's body, with the birthmarks as the only visible marking points. He wondered if she knew how symmetrical the constellations of dots were spread over her… It almost looked as if it was done on purpose.

When he traced them with his finger, he felt her stir inside him. The mirror image became blurry, and separated back into him and Lori. He felt how he lost control over the body again and got pushed back into an observant position. Lori opened her eyes and immediately frowned when she looked straight into the mirror and caught a glimpse of guilt on Loki's face before he put on his trademark scowl again.

"Oh no. You've been fuddling my boobs haven't you?"

Loki frowned.

"What makes you think your boobs are that attractive to me, Mortal?"

"Well Puny, since you're a man and not as stupid as those horns make you look, I would say it's scientific curiosity."

Lori was quite consequent with the Mortal-Puny thing… Loki rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"I was NOT fuddling your boobs. They are no different from any other pair I have ever seen."

"But you've never HAD them, now did you?"

"Actually, I did."

"You were a woman once? What the fuck? Are you transgender?"

"I don't know what that means."

"That you were a woman who got her womanly bits changed into manly bits because she was actually a man trapped in a female body."

"That's… Ridiculous. Does that exist here on Midgard?"

"You were the one saying you were a woman once."

"The female form has many advantages; that doesn't make my mind any less male."

"God, you're fucked up. What advantages does the female form have then?"

"You can reproduce."

"Great, I got the use of my whole sex reduced to "incubator". Great job…." She hesitated a moment. "Are you telling me you have had kids? Like, being pregnant and all?"

"That's how it usually works yes."

"As I said, you're one fucked up dude. It's too early for this, I'm going to get breakfast."

Lori tried not to imagine Loki, helmet and all, with a pregnant belly, and failed royally. Somehow her headily companion caught up on that image, and Lori would have sworn she could feel the god frown in distaste.

"It did not look like that."

"Seriously, what did it look like then?"

Lori didn't know why she suddenly thought of horses, and for some reason she didn't really want to find out…

_(Pagebreak)_

"Good evening, Mr Lauritsen. So this is little Lori?"

Dr Trachtenberg was an older woman who peered over a pair of rectangular spectacles at Lori and her father. She was far in her forties, but her hair was impeccably blonde and her designer dress and heels showed clearly that she earned too much money for what she did. The way the doctor talked to Lori's father as if Lori wasn't there herself and referred to her as "little" was downright demeaning.

"Well, let's have a look at the damage, shall we?"

She pointed Lori to a giant scale that showed the weight in clear digital numbers. The shame was written all over the girl's face when she saw her father's face drop at the number. 73 kg… She doubted her mother had ever weighed that much, and Fabienne Lauritsen had been two heads taller than her daughter. Dr Trachtenberg clacked her tongue and noted down the number. Lori's length came out as 1.65m, which wasn't ridiculously small but far too small to sustain her 73 kg, clearly. Lori hoped the torture would be over soon… But she was wrong.

"Undress please."

Lori looked incredulously at the doctor.

"What?"

"Sweetie, I said undress. I have to measure your fat."

Lori's mouth fell open in disgust when the woman took a device from a shelf that looked most like a pair of callipers.

"Lori, listen to the doctor."

Mr Lauritsen's voice sounded threatening, and Lori quickly undressed, until she stood there in nothing but her underwear. The place where her pants had been nipping in her fat was red and showed clearly, as did the size-too-small bra. Lori died a thousand deaths while Dr Trachtenberg pushed the callipers around her lovehandles and pinched…

Loki had followed the process with great interest, and actually he had found the humiliation quite funny… Until, for a moment, an image of himself in the Healing Rooms came to mind, and he wondered what it would be like to be examined so intimately while his Jotun skin was showing… It wasn't a pleasant feeling and Loki quickly repressed it, but for some reason he found no more pleasure in Lori's humiliation.

When the ordeal was finally over, and Dr Trachtenberg had given Mr Lauritsen a complete report on the state of Lori's fat, along with a pile of dietary advices and the promise she would call as soon as she had the results back of the mandatory blood test she had done, they could leave.

Lori didn't look at her father one single time during the trip home. When she got home she immediately locked herself in her room. Loki could tell she was angry enough to give that dent in the wall a sibling.

"Don't hurt your hand. It's my hand too you know."

"I have never been so humiliated in my entire life."

"I have."

"For some reason I doubt that, Mr Almighty-Norse-God."

"You have no idea what humiliation truly entails if you…"

"Could we just stop this my-horse-is-bigger-than-yours game and take it that I'm humiliated? I feel like shit and I don't need your shit to add to the pile."

Loki didn't like the amount of times Lori had already cut him off. She definitely needed a lesson… And then he suddenly realized there was no way he could make her feel any worse. It was odd to feel part of the mortal girl's emotions, and very eye opening. No matter what he would say, he could not bring Lori any further down than this. It was disconcerting in a way…

"Gloating, aren't you?"

Loki didn't answer, because he was indeed guilty of a bit of gloating… At his silence, Lori sighed.

"Well, I'm fat, I guess I deserve it."

Something inside Loki urged him to say something, but he didn't know what so he just maintained his silence. Lori went to bed without dinner and cried herself to sleep.

**(Author's Notes)**

**I know, the fat-theme is becoming increasingly important... Hope it doesn't annoy you guys too much. I didn't want to make Lori a typical problem-free Mary Sue, but please tell me if I'm overdramatizing her, okay? If it is of any solace, it's of use for the story. **

**Anyway... REVIEW! REVIEW PLEASE! I I live on those reviews, they make my day and inspire me to write more... so PLEASE! **


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning Lori didn't take breakfast. She didn't take lunch. She didn't take dinner.

"Never thought I would say this, but you are neglecting the basic needs of your mortal body."

"Meals are like a supermarket, Loki. When you have nothing in your pantry you go stock up on food in the supermarket. My pantry is far from empty…" She poked her belly. "With other words, I have no need for the supermarket."

"Did you even listen to that healer?"

"It's called a doctor here, and no. Why would I? It's not like she had anything useful to say."

Loki wanted to scream at so much stupidity.

"I am hungry, foolish mortal! Feed me!"

"You're not even real."

"I am very much real! Loki's anger and frustration gave him an unexpected strength, and he pushed Lori away from the controls, swinging an impressive punch at the wall. That it was very impressive showed from the amount of plaster that came down. Next to the hole Loki had hit in the wall Lori's dent looked… rather puny. The pain rushed over him and he felt how he got pulled back. Lori screamed.

"YOU BROKE MY HAND YOU ASSHOLE!"

Jotun strength and Midgardian build were not a good combination, so it seemed. Loki felt a speck of guilt when he realized Lori sat on the floor, clutching her bleeding hand, tears of pain running over her face.

"Wait… I broke your hand?"

"YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!"

Apparently he did.

"We should get you to a healer then."

"IT'S CALLED A DOCTOR AND I HATE YOU ASSHOLE!"

It was an interesting thing to know, that he still had part of his powers when he was in control… He wondered if the same went for his magic. Lori's crying drew him from his thoughts.

"Dad… is gonna k-kill me… Argh this hurts so fucking much…"

"If you allow me I will take you to a hea… err… doctor."

"Asshole. Now you're concerned? I hate you. I HATE YOU!"

Lori was trembling in pain, and the fact she hadn't eaten a thing all day didn't help her. Loki could feel how Lori's consciousness was fleeting, as was her grasp on her body.

"D-don't dare… to… f-fuddle my boobs… a-asshole…"

That was the last thing she uttered before collapsing. Loki was in control now, and damn that hand hurt like hell indeed. He was a bit more used to being in agony than Lori though, so he could easily manage a few cracked knuckles. In the bathroom he held the hand under the water to get rid of the debris and the dust that was in the cuts. The hand was already very swollen, and adorned with quite a few scratches from the bricks he had pulverised. As soon as he found it clean enough he made his way downstairs, to the kitchen, where he grabbed a whole pack of chocolate chip cookies and ate them with the hurry of a person who hasn't eaten in a week. Next was the phonebook. He looked for a cab company, found one, called it, grabbed a handful of money from the household pot and waited. When the cab arrived he ordered it to drive him to the closest hospital. The driver was an Asiatic looking man.

"Wow girl… Whatcha did?"

"Nothing."

"Ooh, walked into the door with that hand huh?"

Loki, oblivious of what the driver was referring to, sighed and shook his head.

"No, into a wall actually."

"Jeez girl… The dude that did that belongs in jail man!"

Loki was confused. How did this man know about what had happened? He indeed belonged in jail according to Midgardian law, but definitely not for breaking Lori's hand… The driver continued.

"You can't have people walk all over ya, you know? You deserve better."

Curious, Loki answered.

"Why?"

The driver shook his head in apparent disbelief.

"Look at you girl, you're young n'pretty, no man should be walkin over ya! Everyone deserves respect, ya know? No matter what they look like, or where they come from, that's just basics girl!"

Loki found the driver a strange man. He wanted to say something, but then the car took a turn and they entered the parking of the hospital.

"There we are girl. Now get that looked at, the best of luck for ya. And mark my words, ya're worth better!"

Loki paid the driver and made his way to the emergency department. He felt very awkward… He had to wait in a waiting room, between a woman holding a small child that had apparently broken his nose and a very reserved looking man who stared right in front of him. He hoped no one would start unsolicited conversation like the driver had, but of course he couldn't be that lucky. The woman with the crying kid turned to him.

"Richie had to go biking on his own of course… And look at us now, sitting at the ER with a broken nose… Sssh Richie boy, the doctor's gonna make it all better… "

The woman tried to shush her child, which was crying while holding a bloody handkerchief to his nose. Loki feigned interest.

"Oh."

"Well yeah, that's having children huh? That hand looks nasty by the way… What happened to you?"

"A fight."

The woman raised her eyebrows.

"I may hope the other guy is off far worse then…"

"The other guy was a wall."

The woman laughed as if Loki had said something incredibly funny.

"Frustration huh? Well, if I would hit a wall every time this little guy drives me mad… I would end up with two permanent casts I'm afraid… Be glad you don't have kids yet…"

Loki wanted to say that he did have kids, and that he would have gladly given his two hands to be allowed to raise them, but he remembered just in time he was still in Lori's body. Finally, it was his turn. The doctor ordered a scan, and it showed two of the metacarpi were broken, along with the dislocation of a few other bones in the hand. The doctor was surprised.

"This is quite a fracture you have there, young lady… What happened?"

"I…" Loki hesitated, and then said, honestly. "I got in a fight with a girl who was really pissing me off… and out of frustration I hit a wall."

"Good it was a wall and not that girl's face, young lady, I can tell you with this force you would have fractured more than just her nose!"

"I… I know."

"Well, this needs to be immobilized, and I will have to give you a regional sedative to put the dislocated fingers back in place."

"Not necessary. I can handle a bit of pain."

The doctor raised eyebrows.

"You've been in this situation before, haven't you?"

"Something like it."

"Well, I can't force the sedative on you. Bite your teeth, young lady."

Pain shot through Loki's hand and arm as the physician exerted pressure on the dislocated fingers, snapping them back in place. Loki didn't even moan though, he had learned to take pain gracefully after a long life of painful punishments. The doctor appeared impressed.

"If you would put as much effort in controlling your anger as you do in controlling your pain reflex, perhaps you wouldn't have this problem every often, Miss Lauritsen."

Loki looked at his shoes while the doctor immobilized the broken fingers. Suddenly the door of the treatment room flew open, showing Mr Lauritsen, who looked a little overheated.

"Lori! The hospital called, what happened!? I rushed from my work to this place! Why didn't you call me?"

Loki frowned at the doctor, who explained.

"You are underage, we are legally obliged to inform your caretakers."

No different than on Asgard then, he recalled that no matter how much he pleaded the healers not to tell Frigga of his injuries, they always did and then she would come rushing in, worried and concerned and sometimes angry because he had been careless while causing mischief… the memory of his not-mother stung painfully in his chest, and he repressed it by pointing his attention to Lori's father. The doctor had just finished explaining what had happened to him, and now he was looking worriedly at her.

"Baby Carrot, don't you know you can always call me? I'm your dad, I would care for you no matter what!"

Something in Mr Lauritsen reminded Loki of Thor… He didn't like it.

"I just got a little mad, it's no big deal father."

Lori's father seemed almost hurt at that name.

"You broke your hand, Lori. That is a big deal to me, and it should be to you as well."

Loki just huffed. Again, Mr Lauritsen seemed hurt.

"Lori, I know you're angry with me for that… appointment… but… I really meant well. Dr Trachtenberg told me I should get you better-fitting clothes, so I have put some extra money on your account. Go shopping with some friends, I don't know… I didn't mean bad."

Definitely Thor. Driving head first into trouble, and then apologizing meekly and asking for forgiveness. Loki suddenly understood how Lori came to hate her dad…

"It was humiliating and unnecessary."

"But if it helps then…"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Loki found it awkward to speak to Lori's father in her place. He had gotten way too involved in this mortal's businesses already… he needed to back out. Yet in the car he felt Lori stir inside him, and his first reflex was to put a mental hand on her and calm her down with an almost friendly mental caress.

"Sssh… Sleep a bit longer little mortal…"

He could feel how Lori's mind sank back into unconsciousness under his soft touch, and it pleased him. Perhaps… perhaps he was so far in it already that he couldn't back out anymore…

**(Author's Notes)**

**So Loki breaks Lori's hand. Fracture of the fifth and fourth metacarpal is a very common "boxer's fracture", and I've once dislocated my metacarpals in a way not so different from Lori's, so... yeah. **

**Anyway... Comments, critics, compliments? I live on them! **

**PLEASE REVIEW I LOVE ALL MY REVIEWERS!**

**-Throws you the irresistible Sad Kitty Look-**

**By the way... don't worry Lori will get an ED, she's far too addicted to food to muster the character for that ;)**


	5. Chapter 5

Lori woke up in bed, with a throbbing hand and a fuzzy head. She checked her immobilized fingers, and looked up at the hole in the wall, and realized it hadn't been a bad dream.

"Fuck."

She didn't remember what had happened after she had passed out on the floor…

"Eh, Puny, you there?"

"I dragged your sorry ass to a doctor, I'd think I deserve a little more respect, Mortal."

"You broke my hand in the first place."

"It's my hand too."

"No, it's not. It is most definitely my hand and you're just using it from time to time, which makes the damage you did all the worse!"

"How so?"

"When you borrow something you bring it back undamaged, that's common courtesy. Don't they have that on wherever you came from?"

"It's Asgard, and yes we do. I just didn't realize we had such an agreement."

"We do. Don't ever do that again."

"I wasn't planning on it."

There was a bit of silence hanging between them. Finally, Loki asked.

"How is your hand?"

"It hurts like hell."

Lori answered gruffly, and Loki guessed he wasn't too high on Lori's Liked People List for the moment. As if he ever was on anyone's Liked People List… He suddenly felt a wave of frustration come over him, powerless frustration because he was stuck in the body of an ugly mortal, and because he had to endure all the humiliation this mortal was subjected to without being able to do anything about it. Lori clearly felt it too, because she remarked.

"You know… I read you're all about ruling stuffs and being king and so on, but seriously… you're already the king of ridiculous drama just like this."

"I do not take kindly to being mocked, Mortal!"

"What're you going do, Puny? Break my other hand too? Might not be the smartest idea, given that it's the only hand you can use for the moment."

"I really hate you."

"The feeling's mutual."

Again there was a bit of silence… Loki could feel that his head-companion was trying to sleep, but the pain in her hand was keeping her awake. Maybe he should have asked the doctor for a sedative after all… He startled at the thought. Since when did the pain of this pathetic mortal bother him? He tried to repress the feeling, as he had been repressing all these bizarre feelings he was troubled by lately, but after sustaining some more rounds of Lori tossing and turning and moaning whenever she moved her hand, he gave up.

"Hold still, will you?"

"It's my body, I do what I want!"

"Shush and hold still mortal, your tossing and turning infuriates me!"

"God you have a real bad case of potty mouth don't you? Ever heard of being polite to your hostess? I'm trying to sleep here!"

"And you're doing an excellent job with that, aren't you? Hold still."

Lori held still for a moment, and then she felt it. Loki's mind, that was already uncomfortable entangled with hers, tried to sneak a way around her to the controls of her body. It was an unpleasant, slightly frightening feeling.

"Stop that!"

"Shush. Hold still."

Lori tried to move, but she then felt she couldn't, Loki had taken over too much of her control already. Asshole. Of course, paralyzing her was the best way to stop her from tossing and turning… Oh, she would make sure that creep didn't get a single minute of sleep if…

All of a sudden an unusual feeling of calm washed over her, making her eyelids grow heavy and her mind really hazy. Lori tried to fight it, but it was too strong, and her consciousness slipped away. Right before her mind went blank she heard Loki's voice, sounding uncharacteristically soothing.

"Sssh… Now sleep, little mortal."

A moment later she had sunken into a deep sleep. Loki was still awake, and he overthought what had happened. He regained part of his magic and part of his strength when he was in control, which was how he had managed to put Lori to sleep. It was a nice discovery, and it certainly opened some possibilities… but as the broken hand had proven, Lori's body wasn't made to serve as a vessel for such powers, it was too easily damaged to even think of revenge or anything like it. The oddest thing was that revenge wasn't the first thing on his mind anymore. Loki was aware that there was a type of entertainment on Midgard known as "reality TV", and since he lived in Lori's head he understood why it was popular. All that ridiculous drama simply made you forget all more important matters. Lori's life was like a very elaborate Reality TV Show to Loki, absorbing his attention and keeping him from sulking and pitying himself, most of the time. Many of his thoughts were about Lori, and Lori's father, and Lori's friends –the lack of them, mostly… and the thought that Odin had cast him here so he would be distracted from his Glorious Purpose by teenage drama was angering him so much he almost woke Lori again. That he immediately calmed her as soon as she stirred inside their shared head proved him unfortunately that whatever his not-father had planned… it was working.

_(Pagebreak)_

The next days, Loki made the resolution to distance himself from Lori. He told her he didn't want to talk to her anymore, and that if she wanted to prevent getting hurt again she better not addressed him. Lori took it without much comment, and for some reason that depressed Loki. So it was true, and she really did hate him… No idea why that bothered him. He observed Lori throughout the days, as she wormed herself into her too-tight jeans, went to school, tried to skip PE, got humiliated from time to time and generally scored well on tests…

He also noticed her breakfast consisted of an apple, her lunch consisted of three cookies, and her dinner was more often than not simply absent. Now Loki could go without food for pretty long, but that didn't mean he never got hungry, and around food times he had to restrain himself from yelling that she had to eat more. Mr Lauritsen was completely oblivious of his daughter's eating habits, which also infuriated Loki because how could anyone be so freaking blind?

For two weeks, Loki was a silent observer. A silent observer that was slowly reaching the apex of frustration… At long last, when Lori sparsely nibbled on her lunch cookies, he blurted out.

"By the Nine, will you eat already!?"

Lori startled so bad that she dropped her cookie. As soon as she realized what it was, she rolled her eyes.

"Damn, you again. I thought you had finally found a better head to inhabit."

"Unfortunately I did not, no."

"Poor you. Expect me to feel sorry?"

Loki noticed Lori's voice was rather flat. He knew she looked pale, with sunken cheeks and bags under her eyes, while she further had lost little weight over the course of two weeks.

"No. I expect you to eat a decent meal before you kill yourself."

"As if you care."

"You know well enough why I care."

"Oh yes, you need my body to function so that you can use it for your evil plans."

"I have no evil plans!"

"Yeah, yeah, and the Pope's an atheist."

"From what I've heard about your religions, that may very well be the case."

"Shut up and leave me alone."

Lori was still talking back, but she seemed to have lost a bit of her fire. If anything, the reason was probably lack of sustenance. Loki didn't know much about mortal physiology, but he knew well enough that a mortal body couldn't work without food. If he wanted this mortal to survive he needed a plan to get her to eat.

"I have a proposition for you."

"Ooh, the offer I can't refuse?"

Lori mocked him… Angered, Loki said.

"This is serious!"

"Fine, what's on offer?"

"I can help you take revenge on the mortals that have wronged you."

He felt Lori raised her eyebrows. She shook her head.

"I need to see you to discuss this."

She made her way to a service toilet on the fourth floor, where a dirty mirror hung above a broken washing basin. In it she looked at Loki's mirror image. The god frowned at her, wrinkling his nose at the unpleasant smell that hung in the room.

"What is this place?"

"The old teacher's toilet, it's never used. I can't be seen talking to myself in the girl's room, they'd think I'm crazy. Now… what would this revenge entail?"

"I am not called the god of mischief for nothing, you know. If I can prank the gods, I sure can inflict humiliation on a few pathetic mortals."

He could see Lori's mouth folded into a smirk.

"Humiliation… sounds good…"

"But in return I have a few demands as well."

"I'm not going to help you conquer the universe."

Loki rolled his eyes.

"As if you would be of any use in that."

That caused an indignant reaction from Lori.

"What? I could…"

"I want you to eat three meals a day, and only healthy things. That means no donuts, no microwave macaroni, and no pizzas… But definitely not restricting to just apples and cookies."

Lori looked surprised at Loki in the mirror.

"Wait a minute there… Are you just trying to fuck with my diet?"

Loki wanted to pull his helmet over his eyes, that annoyed he felt.

"This is not a diet, it's starvation! I don't care if you starve yourself, but not as long as I live here too! As long as I'm stuck in your head you're going to eat."

Lori thought about it. She had been feeling pretty miserable the last few days, and the only reason she hadn't given up on dieting already was because she wanted to show both Loki and her dad that she could show restraint by herself, that she didn't need that stupid weight loss doctor. If she agreed with Loki perhaps her little dietary effort would pay off after all…

"If I would agree, what would that entail?"

"As I said, three meals a day. And for the revenge part, you will be obliged to de exactly as I say."

"You won't make me do anything gross will you?"

The temptation was there, but Loki shook his head.

"I won't. I might let other people do gross things though."

"I'm okay with that."

"So you agree?"

"I agree."

Loki clapped his hands.

"Now then, get out of this dirthole and find me some food!"

_(Pagebreak)_

"I don't see how this is related to taking revenge in any way."

Lori remarked, while browsing through a clothes store. Loki could tell she was annoyed. He chuckled at her discomfort, and was met with an internalized glare.

"You're just doing this to humiliate me again, no? Why can't I order clothes online, like I always do?"

"Because they don't fit."

"I hate fitting rooms."

Loki sighed and checked what Lori had taken from the rack.

"Long sleeves, grey, dark blue, jeans… do you ever wear anything else?"

"I like those things."

"No way you're going to buy that, you have piles of that stuff already. Put them back, I will pick suitable clothes for you."

Lori grumbled, but obliged. Loki scanned the store, until something caught his eye.

"Go there, left wall."

"That's party clothing, Loki. I need stuff for school."

"There you make a mistake, little mortal."

The term escaped his mental mouth before he knew it, and Lori facepalmed.

"Applause for Loki Laufeyson, who has just discovered a way to make an already demeaning term even more demeaning!"

Loki hadn't meant to be demeaning, for once… If anything, it could be seen as a term of endearment. If you spun it around a bit and squinted, that is. Lori didn't share his opinion.

"Why on earth am I taking fashion advice for a guy who insults me all the time?"

"Because you agreed to obey me in everything concerning the revenge plans."

"As I already said, I don't see how clothes shopping relates to revenge."

"And as I said, you are wrong."

"Enlighten me, Puny."

Loki ignored the name and continued to check the clothes. There was a vast array of different types of garbs available… the Midgardians sure were vain creatures. He made use of Lori's boredom to worm himself a way to the control of her body. Lori suddenly felt she had lost control, and she cursed, trying to fight back. When conscious she still had the upper hand in her body, so she was quickly winning from Loki. The god gritted his teeth.

"Would you rather have that I order you around like a dog, or will you allow me to pick the clothes myself?"

"Say please."

"I am not below you, Mortal!"

Lori's mouth fell open.

"Have you never heard of being polite? It doesn't mean you're below someone, it means you respect that person!"

Loki continued to push, and Lori rolled her eyes.

"But of course, you don't respect me, now do you?"

Loki couldn't honestly say yes. He was struggling for control, and the ease by which Lori managed to hold him back was angering him. Anything he would say now would be considered highly offensive.

"Look, Mr Puny-God-Of-Asgard. This is my body. I agreed to your help but I never submitted to you in any way. Apologize and be polite."

"Never!"

Lori really found it borderline hilarious, the way they were having a mental battle in the middle of the mall. Loki was strong enough to overpower her when she was weakened by circumstances, but now was not one of those moments. She enjoyed the feeling of power it gave her to have Loki's mind struggling inside her.

"Seriously, you have to show some common courtesy. If I'm to give you control I want you to behave like a decent human being, I kinda like my reputation as a pleasant person to be around."

Loki huffed, and stopped struggling, knowing he couldn't win anyway. With dread in his voice he asked.

"Fine. Please Miss Lauritsen, may I have control of your body?"

"Only for the shopping."

**(Author's Notes)**

**Yay! Loki is finally starting to warm up a bit to Lori, if only to preserve himself... Trouble is on the way! And Loki and Lori having a mental battle in a clothes store... **

**REVIEW PLEASE! -Pleading Kitty Is Pleading-**


	6. Chapter 6

She released her mental hold and Loki smiled relieved at the feeling of having a body again. Immediately he went to search the racks for clothing that fitted his idea. In the back of his mind he heard Lori comment.

"Nothing too revealing, no skirts or dresses, nothing too tight, nothing that shows my arms… Do they sell burqas here too?"

Loki ignored her and proceeded to go through the clothes. If anything, thanks to Dr Trachtenberg he had a pretty good idea of Lori's sizes. He heard her wince when he took a pair of black leather pants from the rack.

"I'm NOT wearing that!"

"You are if I want you to."

"You still have to explain what clothes have to do with revenge."

Loki grinned as he gathered a few other pieces of clothing.

"These are not clothes, little mortal… They are armour."

"What the fuck? And stop calling me that!"

"You'll soon enough understand. Now, what size are your breasts?"

"That is of NO concern to you!"

"Fine."

And to Lori's horror, Loki just grabbed her boobs and squeezed them.

"I would estimate this to be at least a C-cup, definitely not a B like you're wearing."

"Oh no. No way. I'm not letting you buy me underwear."

"You are, because you allowed me to do the shopping, and your womanly bits are suffering from your choices in clothing."

Annoyed and at loss of what to say, Lori exclaimed.

"You're SO gay!"

"That is of no concern to you. Now let's go find the lingerie department."

Loki knew no shame, Lori realized. Loki Laufeyson was one of those people who could be caught naked in a grocery store and still walk out without a trace of discomfort. Possibly even while shoplifting a can of tuna. When the god held up a barely-there scanty garment of black lace and green satin she winced.

"Loki… Put that down, turn around, and leave this department!"

"You're so going to try this on."

"Great. And then I'll end up on or 9Gag, with a caption like "Shrek Meets Cinderella" or something. No, worse, "Shrek meets Porn". All because I'm fat and all people have smartphones and you are the least subtle lingerie shopper ever!"

"I have no clue what you're talking about."

Loki grinned and took his loot with him to the fitting rooms. Much to Lori's horror it were fitting rooms without mirrors. There was a huge mirror in the central space between the rooms, but none inside them…

When Loki started undressing her body, she felt giddy. Because she had no control it felt as if a stranger was undressing her, and it made her highly self-conscious.

"Don't touch my boobs."

"You are protective of these, aren't you? Although I must say you take bad care of something you are so protective of…" Loki got rid of the bra, making Lori's C-cup bulge out in full glory. He held up the small bra.

"Why do you even wear something so constricting?"

Loki sounded honestly surprised, because from the red lines on Lori's shoulders and breasts he could tell the bra was really way too small… Lori sighed.

"Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to ask my dad for larger clothes every so often? I only order things online, and never underwear, that I get in the supermarket. Besides, if a girl like me flaunts her boobs it looks as if I don't know I'm fat and ugly, and then people will say I'm trying too hard."

Loki shook his head.

"That's just…"

"Stupid? Easy for you to say, you're… let's think, a male, a god, an alien, and freaking handsome! This is about as far from your bed as it gets!"

"Unfortunately not, since we happen to share a bed these days."

"God that sounds so wrong. Never point that out again, will you?"

Loki put on the new bra, and Lori had to admit it was a thousand times more comfortable than her old one, not to mention way prettier. Then she got to see Loki's other finds…

"Leather, leather, green, green, black, gold, green… What do you think I am, a Christmas tree? I'm not wearing that!"

"Yes you are."

And since Loki was in control, Lori got to wear the leather pants, in combination with a black top and a golden mesh jumper.

"I look stupid."

"We'll see."

"It's tight black leather, glittery gold, and my arms are bare. It's everything I'm never ever going to wear so what's the use?"

Loki pulled away the fitting room curtain, showing the both of them in the huge mirror. Lori's red became bright red in embarrassment when she caught sight of the leather accentuating her thighs and the golden mesh making her already impressive décolletage look even huger.

"Pull. That. Curtain. Back. NOW!"

Loki admitted that it hadn't been the best choice for Lori. She wasn't confident enough to get away with it… The next outfit was an emerald wrap dress. Loki had faith in it that this garment would suit Lori's curvaceous figure… He almost bit his tongue when he caught himself thinking of Lori as "curvaceous" rather than fat. She was fat, fat, fat; he had to remember that. He put on the dress, shook up "his" boobs, threw his hair loose, and pushed back the curtain again. This time, no immediate comment from Lori resounded. The dress gave Lori almost an hourglass figure, and the plunging neckline definitely did wonders too. The girl was shocked into silence. Loki interpreted the silence as approval.

"I take it that you finally respect my decisions."

To his surprise Lori uttered, sounding sad.

"This dress is not possible."

"How so?"

"If I wear this to school… I can already hear them call me a fat whore."

"They have never gone so far in their insults towards you in the past few weeks."

"That's only because I never gave rise to it. If I were to dress provocative they sure would."

Loki shook his head and sat down on the little chair in the fitting room, atop of a clothes pile. He had no idea why he felt compelled to explain what he was thinking, but since he had gone in so deep already, he could better go all the way.

"Clothes, Lori, clothes are more than just coverage. You use them to cover your skin and hide your fat, but they have much more use. Clothing is armour. When you dress like nothing can touch you and nothing can ridicule you… That's like a protective layer around your mind, and it radiates off you, stopping people from insulting you. When you look strong, you are strong."

Lori thought about this. She recalled Loki's helmet, and remarked.

"Does that mean you wear that silly helmet to stop people from ridiculing you?"

Loki sighed and admitted honestly.

"Well, yes. You are the first person it doesn't work on. You and Anthony Stark."

Lori giggled.

"I feel flattered… you compared me to Ironman, of all people…"

"You two can match in obnoxiousness."

Lori thought a little deeper, and ran her hand over the soft fabric of the wrap dress.

"So what you're saying is… this dress is to me what your helmet is to you?"

"Something like that, yes."

They ended up buying the dress, and the bra, and a couple more things Loki picked out for Lori. Thanks to Mr Lauritsen's royal refill of Lori's bank account that posed no problem. Loki felt… bizarrely content. He decided to put it on the fact he had had a body for so long.

_(Pagebreak)_

"Loki…"

They were lying in Lori's bed, and Loki had given the controls back to the body's "rightful owner"… when Lori suddenly addressed him.

"Loki, are you awake?"

"Yes."

He replied gruffly.

"What is it, Mortal?"

Lori was silent. Then she sighed and said.

"Oh, nothing Puny. Just… Are you going to be all distant and I-can't-stand-you tomorrow?"

"Huh?"

"Every time you do something that makes you look like less of a jerk you make up for it the next day by being extra mean. I just wanted to know in advance, so I could prepare myself, you know."

Loki didn't answer. It was true that every time he had made the mistake of coming too close to the mortal he had retreated as soon as he realized it… Only he hadn't realized Lori had noticed this. Why did he even care?

"I just want you to know that, just in case you're going back to be the almighty Asshole of Asshole Garden tomorrow, you were sort of nice today. Not nice-nice, just… not as completely obnoxious as most of the time. I liked it. Not that that means anything, but… I did. Thanks for the dressing advice too."

Loki didn't know what to say. He eventually replied dismissively.

"Oh go to sleep already."

While Lori slept, he lay awake. It was true that he didn't despise the mortal as much as he used to anymore. Lori Lauritsen was bigmouthed, fat and ashamed of herself, and she had a serious case of low self-esteem and a whole lot of ridiculous teenage family drama going on… but in the time he had spent in the girl's head, Loki had found she was intelligent, kind-hearted, and genuinely funny too. He didn't want to like her, because she was to serve as his involuntary prison guard, but he couldn't hate her anymore either.

It was a confusing situation, and when he finally fell asleep he dreamed of chocolate cake and leather pants and his mother. It was a nice dream, the first nice dream he had in ages…

**(Author's Notes)**

**A quick update, for all my lovely reviewers! I adore you guys, know that? Cookies for AvengersGirl-LokisSpy, Ryle Culler, The13thGirlWithoutASoul, Dark Rabbit, TheSillyKitten, Dreewodx, and a whole bunch of guests who I can't thank in person but whom I definitely appreciate. **

**Lori and Loki go clothes shopping, and we learn the secret of Loki's helmet... Mwhuhahahaaah. Loki's being uncharacteristically nice, I know, and Lori knows what usually follows is icy silence and insults, so she warns him. **

**PLEASE REVIEW! Your reviews bring Loki good dreams! (and damn, you all know he needs those...)**


	7. Chapter 7

Loki had given her some simple commands, and Lori felt herself all giddy with the thought of actually humiliating her bullies. All they needed was paint, and a bit of Loki's magic… It was a test round, to see if they could actually make a prank work with their bizarre shared-body condition.

"Are they gone?"

"It's your class, you should know your hours, Mortal."

"It's your plan, Puny."

"Shut up and get in, I think they're gone."

Lori pushed open the door of the dressing room, and carefully looked around. No one. Silently chuckling she got her supplies and got to work. Red paint in the crotch of Liz' pink skinny jeans, brown paint on the back of Karen's white skirt, a few fake puke stains on Sara's blouse…

"Done."

Loki took control, and grinned seeing Lori's work from close by. Pranking people always put him in a good mood… He concentrated, and placed a spell over the stains. As soon as they were all invisible, he made sure to get out of the dressing room as soon as possible and go back to the girl's sickbay. Lori pushed him back there and grinned in the mirror.

"So… how long does that magic of yours last?"

"About two hours, then it'll wear off."

"You mean… they'll have the stains right after lunch break? That's brilliant!"

"Did you doubt my abilities, Mortal?"

"Seriously Puny. We're working together now, you should stop with the mortal thing."

Loki just gave her a derisive huff. Lori rolled her eyes and plopped down on the bunk bed.

"Fine. Be your assholy self."

Loki didn't like the feeling he had. It reminded him of the feeling he had had when he and Thor had gone on some forbidden adventure together… It was wrong. This girl was a pathetic mortal, she had to kneel before him and worship him! He had to despise her, not… actually like her! The moment he thought that he startled. Did he like her? Loki internally shook his head. No, of course not. It was simply the idea of pulling a trick that made him more collegial, that's all. With that he pushed the feeling away.

Back in class after lunch break, Lori tried her best not to watch the girls that had received her 'treatment'… But when she heard whispering next to her, that Sara Berkley might be suffering from Bulimia, she knew the plan had succeeded. When Karen made her way to the blackboard everyone started giggling and chuckling. The brown paint on her ass really made a great impression of diarrhoea gone wrong… Lori and Loki didn't get to see their work on Liz Harrison, because she suddenly ran out of the class in the middle of the lesson and returned wearing her gym shorts. Not that that was any less hilarious, of course, seeing Liz' stylish top and vest combined with those ugly green-blue shorts… Loki was starting to understand what Lori had meant with "all people have smartphones". Those bizarre black devices everyone indeed appeared to possess were apparently able of making pictures… and those would serve as a permanent reminder of the girls' humiliation…

The giant smile on Lori's lips didn't disappear for the rest of the day…

_(Pagebreak)_

"That was fun!"

Loki couldn't help but chuckle.

"I agree little mortal, that was rather enjoyable."

School was out, and Lori was walking home. It was strange, the way she was talking to Loki… It almost felt as if the god was walking next to her. Perhaps deep down, Loki Laufeyson wasn't as much of a jerk as he pretended to be, she mused… Absorbed in thought she walked the way home on autopilot, not noticing she wasn't alone in the alley she went through as a shortcut. It wasn't a dangerous town, and she had taken that alley all her life, but this time she would regret it…

"Look who's there…"

Lori looked up and spotted a tall blonde guy standing against the wall. Immediately a frown formed on her face.

"Hi Francis."

Francis Hennessey was Liz' boyfriend, a mean jerk that more than once had made her trip on the playground, simply to make his girlfriend laugh. She wanted to pass him by, but he blocked her way. Out of the shadow two other guys showed up.

"Where do you think you're going, Carrot Top?"

"Leave me alone."

"We know what you did today…"

Lori tried to play innocent, but the guys only grinned wider.

"You know, we don't like it when people mess with our girls…"

"Especially not if those are fat, ugly people."

"And we think you need a little lesson."

Lori's eyes widened.

"What? Shit man, leave me alone! I didn't do anything!"

"Oh we know it was you… Miss Depressed walking around with a big smile on the day our girls get pranked? Didn't know you had it in you, actually…"

Francis grabbed her and pushed her against the wall of the alley. Internally, Lori was in a state of extreme panic, causing her to block off all rational thoughts, including Loki. The blonde, who towered over her –hah, Loki is still taller, she thought in a last flash of relative awareness- grinned mean before he gave her the first kick. It was a low blow, a knee in her stomach, and Lori felt her lunch come up again. More hits followed; as soon as the three guys realized she wasn't going to resist or scream they didn't hold back. Lori had curled up in her head while the guys beat her up. She cried, but didn't make a sound. Only when she threw up the boys decided she had had enough. Lying on the ground of the alley in a puddle of puke, she watched them leave. Everything hurt, and her immobilized hand burned as if they had set it on fire. Lori was too shocked to do anything but lie there and cry…

Eventually Loki was able to get through to her, and when he realized what had happened he was surprised by the extreme anger he suddenly felt. It was just a mortal, no big deal… The thoughts had no impact anymore. All of a sudden Loki realized that yes, he liked this mortal, and yes, he cared about what happened to her. It was an unpleasant realization, but a necessary one. Somehow, sentiment had gotten to him, and now he was stuck with it. He carefully extended a mental hand to Lori and softly patted her.

"Sssh… It's over… It's over…"

Lori cried with long sobs of pain and despair, while Loki tried his best to calm her down.

"You really have to get up, Lori."

Lori just cried more. Eventually Loki sighed and took control. Lori didn't even resist, and with a simple spell Loki put her to sleep. One look at the broken hand told him they would have to make another trip to the ER. He looked at the ruined clothes and sighed deeply. Good thing Lori hadn't worn her new things already… For as far as he could tell there were quite a lot of bruises, quite a lot of those in his face as well, and that hand… he really hoped it wasn't broken again. Midgardian healers were hopelessly behind in ways to set and heal bone, without magic a fracture could require surgery… Loki shook it off and made his way further to Lori's home. He changed clothes, put the puke-stained clothes in the washing machine so that Mr Lauritsen wouldn't notice, and went to check on the damage in the bathroom. Loki winced when he saw how one side of Lori's face was already blue and swollen. Explaining that to her father would be tricky. He realized he had to come up with some sort of excuse…

A little later Loki had found the telephone again. He called Lori's father and said, with his sorriest voice -it didn't even take that much effort-

"Dad?"

"Lori dear, is that you?"

"Dad, I fell from the stairs on my hand and it hurts can you please come home?"

"Oh my Lori! I'm coming immediately! Have you hurt your head? Do you think you've broken anything else? Do you feel nauseous?"

Loki gave sad sounding answers to the questions, and soon Mr Lauritsen was at the door. His mouth fell open when he saw Lori.

"Lori! Oh my god Lori you look like you've been beaten up!"

"I… I just f-fell from the stairs d-dad…"

"Come on, we'll go to the hospital. How did you manage to fall from the stairs?"

"I… I slipped. And my hand is immobilized, s-so I couldn't catch m-myself."

"Oh dearie…"

_(Pagebreak)_

Back at the hospital's ER department, the same doctor as last time treated Lori. He took one look at the bruises, listened to the story, then said he wanted to talk to Lori alone for a moment.

"Well, well young lady. Planning on becoming a regular here?"

"I… I didn't fall from the stairs."

"I can see that. But your father doesn't know, now does he?"

"Do you have to tell him?"

"You ARE underage, but…"

"Please?"

"I won't tell him, if only because you're quite a tough lady. But if this happens again I will have to tell him, understood?"

Loki nodded. The doctor checked the bandaged hand, it wasn't broken but one of the fingers had been dislocated again. Again the doctor snapped it back in place without sedation, and Loki didn't even wince.

"Now, care to tell me what really happened?"

"I pranked a few girls in school, nothing bad really, and their boyfriends didn't like it."

The doctor shook his head.

"Miss Lauritsen, it seems to me you have a penchant for getting in trouble. How do your attackers fare?"

Loki suddenly felt ashamed he didn't defend Lori. He had found the strength to break her hand, but not to break that bastard's face…

"I… They're okay, I guess…"

The doctor shook his head.

"They used to tell me when I was younger 'Don't fight, and if you fight, make sure you hit so hard the other guy can't hit back.' Maybe not the best advice, but it's the only one I can give you. I sincerely hope this is the last time I see you here, Miss Lauritsen!"

Loki managed to smile, a little. He realized that he had… failed… Lori. He promised her revenge and got her into even deeper trouble. The whole trip home he spent thinking over ways to get back at both the girls and their boyfriends. He had killed thousands, and invented more pranks in his whole life than any other, he could hardly believe there would not be a way… The advice the doctor had given him continued to play in his mind. Of course… he hadn't hit them hard enough. The paint had been just a little bit of innocent fun… to succeed he would need bigger and better. His lips curled into an evil smirk, regardless of being swollen and painful.

"Prepare, bitches… This is war."

**(Author's Notes)**

**Yeah. The first prank, quite an innocent one actually, goes horribly wrong when the girls send their boyfriends after Lori... So much for revenge... **

**But... Angering the God of Mischief and Lies is risky business, as many Asgardians can testify... Lori doesn't need to fear; her revenge will come and it will be sweet like cupcakes. **

**Now... PLEASE REVIEW! I love all my reviewers... Cookies and revenge-cupcakes for all of them!**

**no-MY name's Anonymous, Am4444, and srgthamy... THANK YOU FOR REVIEWING! *hands cookies***


	8. Chapter 8

Lori woke up in pain. Her whole body hurt as if she had been seriously roughhoused. Oh right, that was exactly what had happened. Thinking about that still made her feel terrible. She crawled under the covers again. Stupid Loki, he had pushed her into this and now she would look like the elephant man tomorrow in school and everyone would make fun of her instead of Liz Harrison. Self-pity and physical pain did not make a good combination. And of course that mean god was ignoring her again… maybe it had all been a ruse from the start so she would get beaten up.

Then she heard Loki's voice, sounding strangely subdued.

"I'm sorry."

"What?"

"I said I'm sorry, Lori Lauritsen."

Lori couldn't believe her ears.

"I seriously thought you were incapable of pronouncing those words."

"If I could I would humiliate myself to do penance. Odin knows that's how I usually paid for my tricks."

Loki had never spoken about his past before… She was mad at him, but her curiosity won it from her need to ignore him.

"What tricks did you do then?"

"Lots of things. Setting traps in the palace corridors, painting people's faces while they were sleeping, slipping sexually charged notes with false names in people's books, tricking people by making illusionary clones of myself… I will never forget the one time I caught the ambassador of Alfheim in one of my corridor traps, a net. Odin was so furious he let me hang in such a net myself for five months without food, for everyone to see. I even had to piss on the floor."

"Wow. Whatever I said about my dad being the worst in the universe… I take it back. Shit. What kind of parent does a thing like that?"

Loki didn't know why he was telling all this to the mortal, but he couldn't stop himself.

"The betrothed of my brother, Sif, who is the Goddess of War, always had something against me. So one day while she was sleeping I shaved her bald."

He could hear Lori chuckle.

"Loki, sometimes I wonder how you've survived up to now. You gave the Goddess of WAR a head shave? What did she do, royally kick your royal ass?"

Loki winced at the memory.

"Oh yes… but that wasn't the worst. Sif is the best warrior of Asgard, but she is also a maiden, and everyone sympathized with her. If she had been a man it would have been different, but now… the whole of Asgard hated me. I tried to undo my mistake…"

"Couldn't you magic her hair back?"

"No. I hadn't mastered such spells back then. I went to the realm of the dwarves and tried to get them to craft a magical wig for Sif, made out of the finest gold. Dwarves are pathological gamblers, so the only way I could win the wig was through a bet. I… I didn't have anything of value, but most people did want to see me dead, so I bet my head."

"WHAT? Now I'm seriously surprised you're still alive."

"The dwarves did manage to craft the wig, and I was supposed to be beheaded… But I talked myself out of it. Yet the dwarves didn't like what I had done, and they cursed the wig without me knowing."

"Oh no…"

Lori was totally immersed in the story…

"Oh yes. When Sif put it on and the wig became her new hair, it also turned raven black, and the spell was irrevocable."

"Could have been worse…"

"Sif is a vain goddess, despite being very brave on the battlefield. She was not happy… Odin believed it to be another one of my tricks, and when I tried to explain what must have happened he said he didn't want to hear my lies anymore. As a punishment he had the guards sew my mouth shut."

Lori remembered how Loki had reacted when she had threatened to sew his mouth shut, and now she understood why.

"Wow… Your dad is fucking abusive…"

"He's not even my real father. I… I was adopted."

"Don't the have like… adoption committees who control shit like that on Asgard?"

Loki chuckled dryly.

"Odin found me during a war, I had been abandoned to die because I was too small and weak for my real family, who belonged to the enemy race. He never told me until… not so long ago."

"Let me guess… That didn't end well?"

"You can say so. I…"

"You ended up here with a freaking alien army and a lot of big talk about freeing us of freedom. Yeah right that didn't end well."

Loki could hear the sarcasm in Lori's voice, and felt strangely hurt.

"Don't mock me, mortal!"

"I don't mock you Puny. I… You're just a tough person to live with, you know that?"

"Huh?"

"One moment you're an evil asshole, then you're almost acting as if we could be friends, the next moment you act as if you wouldn't touch me with a ten feet pole, and suddenly you're being so nice to me it almost feels as if you're not trying to… to… I don't know. Why are you nice to me when all you're going to do is go back to being evil and cause me even more trouble in the end?"

Loki didn't know what to say. The mortal girl was right… He indeed treated her in a highly confusing way. But that wasn't his fault! He never chose to be stuck with her! Somewhere in the back of his head he realized it was his fault though. Lori hadn't really done anything wrong, and he had been a complete jerk to her. But since when was he nice to mortals? There was an awkward moment in Loki's mind, in which he realized one thing.

He was nice to Lori… because he liked her. He really did.

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry just doesn't really cut it. I'm not going to sew our mouth shut or not feed you for months or anything drastic like that, but I'm still mad at you. Tell me… Did you think of this revenge plan only to get me in trouble?"

"Of course not. Getting you in trouble is getting myself in trouble too. Even if you assume I dislike you why would…"

"You don't seem to have too much of a problem with bringing yourself in trouble, from what I heard."

Loki swallowed and sighed.

"Do you know I have never apologized this much to the same person?"

"No way."

Lori's voice was dripping with sarcasm. Loki found it particularly unpleasant, it made him feel exposed and a little betrayed. He sighed.

"If a woman's tongue is her dagger… yours sure is a poisoned one…"

That made Lori raise her eyebrows.

"You know, compliments don't work that way."

"It wasn't a compliment. I was stating a fact about you, little poison-tongue. You made the god of mischief and lies spill his guts to you, and then you speak with such enmity…"

Lori heard nothing but tiredness in the god's voice. Loki was tired of it all. He was tired of trying to hate the mortal female, he was tired of apologizing, and he was tired of everything else too. Everything.

"Loki… Why did you attack earth?"

"Because… Because I… I wanted to be respected."

"No one respects assholes…"

"Odin is pretty well-respected though."

Lori was starting to see a pattern. If this Odin person had really humiliated Loki so much, and gotten respect for that, then it was no surprise that Loki believed being a world-conquering arse was going to bring him respect.

"When he told me of my heritage… It's too long a story really, but in the end I tried to kill myself."

Lori didn't know what to say. Over-confident asshole Loki wasn't the type of person for suicide in her idea…

"Really?"

"Again, long story. I don't like to reminiscence about that. Just know that somehow I met the alien species that attacked Manhattan… they made me believe I could be respected, that I could be powerful… If only I followed their orders."

"Shit. That… And you bought that?"

"I was…"

Loki didn't finish his sentence, because he couldn't really think of a word to describe his state. Despaired just didn't cover it… While thinking about it he could almost feel the feeling seep into his bones again, that worthless, sick, desperate sense of complete failure… A sensation that felt a bit like a hand softly caressing him pulled him out of it…. It took him a moment to realize it was Lori's attempt at comforting him… Normally such a sentimental thing would have made him scowl, but now… he was grateful for it. Knowing that Lori was in pain, he stretched out his mental hands as well, and tried to ease her discomfort. It was odd, how they fell asleep, mentally entangled, seeking comfort in each other's presence…

**(Author's Notes)**

**Yes, at long last, Loki spills his guts. Not completely, there's still a lot left out, but... it's a beginning, no? Anyway, I thought they deserved some fluff. Loki will be kick-ass awesome and revenge-driven in the next chapter, but for now I just wanted some feels :D**

**PLEASE REVIEW! This story lives on reviews... **

**Thanks to TheSillyKitten, no-MY name's Anonymous, Cinderfire16 and Tiryn... *hands cookies* I love you guys... **


	9. Chapter 9

Lori's body was stiff and aching when she woke up, and yet she had slept unusually deep and well. The bruises of the previous day would only hurt more today, she realized… Oh damn Loki… What time was it? It felt too late in the day… She jumped up and immediately grunted in pain. Her eyes fell on the clock and she let out a scream.

"SHIT!"

That woke Loki up inside her. The god caught her panic, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

"What happened this time, mortal?"

He maybe liked her now, but that didn't mean he couldn't refer to her as "mortal", especially when she woke him in such an unpleasant manner. Lori exclaimed.

"I'M THREE HOURS LATE FOR SCHOOL!"

Loki wished he could cover his ears. Damn mortal females and their powerful voices… He checked the clock and noticed the yellow post-it note stuck to it. Grumpily he inquired.

"What's that yellow thing?"

"What yellow thing I have to get ready they're gonna… oh… That yellow thing."

Lori stopped freaking out for a moment as she noticed the post-it note and pulled it off the clock radio. In her father's scribbly handwriting it read.

_"Dear Lori, you were sleeping so deep and I guessed you could use your rest after yesterday. Called you in sick and turned off your alarm. Enjoy a day at home! Love, Dad."_

"Oh."

"Does this mean you woke me for no good reason, Mortal?"

"Oh, Puny is having a morning mood…"

"I'm not the one who was screaming just a second ago."

Lori supposed that was fair. Now the immediate stress reaction faded, she felt her body again. She moaned as the aching in her stiff and bruised muscles became apparent once more.

"Damn… That shit hurts…"

From what she could see, her whole body was covered in bruises. There even was a very revealing footprint-shaped bruise on the back of her left thigh. If her dad saw that one…

"Thank you very much Loki Laufeyson. I really needed a different skin colour."

Once again Lori's voice was laced with a serious dose of poisonous sarcasm. Loki frowned internally, not understanding exactly she was going on about.

"What in the Nine are you talking about, Mortal?"

"Well Puny, you know what you get when you cross pale skin with combat boots?"

"Err…"

"Blue skin."

Now that was an unfortunate coincidence of the worst kind. Loki winced; the words 'blue' and 'skin' in the same sentence tended to make him feel uncomfortable. He glanced at Lori's arms and legs.

"You're not blue."

"Duh. Ever seen a completely blue person? This is bad enough…"

Again Loki winced. He needed to change the subject, and fast.

"I am hungry mortal. Go find food."

"Yay, back with the commanding. I'm not your slave, Puny. First I'm going to assess the damage."

And Loki had to endure facing the mirror once more, a mirror that almost certainly would betray his expression of absolute discomfort to Lori… Lori's face was looking even worse than the day before, but still Loki let out a relieved sigh. It wasn't… well. It wasn't the image he had feared to see. Lori wasn't so relieved. She sighed deeply.

"Wow. Hello Elephant Man."

"Who is this elephant man you keep referring to?"

"Just think ugly and deformed, that sort of covers it."

"This is not deformed… I've seen worse."

By example looking at his own mirror image that fateful day he had discovered… No. Don't think about that. No thinking about…

"Loki, you look like you ate a shoe."

"Huh?"

"Sorry, that was just the only thing I could come up with to describe your expression."

"Oh."

Lori sighed and looked again at her bruised face. One half was swollen and coloured in all tones of blue, purple and yellow, and one eye socket was all puffy and red. Just looking at it hurt… Apparently Loki thought the same about it; his face had once again turned to that expression of disgust she had come to hate so much…

"Seriously Loki, don't look like that. I know it's disgusting but please don't look as if you're going to throw up I feel bad enough like this!"

Loki really wished Lori would just turn away from the mirror. All that talk about blue, deformed and disgusting had pulled up way too many memories he would rather suppress.

"If I promise to lessen your injuries, will you please turn away from the mirror?"

He caught Lori's sad glance, but she still obliged.

"Fine. As long as you do something about this I'm okay with it."

"You will be required to lie down."

Lori walked back to the bedroom and lay down on the bed. For a moment she felt nothing, but then there was an odd tingling sensation in her bruises, almost as someone was carefully stroking them. It would have been awkward if Lori had been aware enough to think it through… however with the soft touch she also felt her mind grow foggy and slow. It was pleasant, and Lori felt how her whole body relaxed to the strange mental touches. Her mind wandered, and soon her head filled with vague images and thoughts that weren't hers. She was too drowsy to concentrate on any of them; she just let the images slide through her head like a stream. Somewhere in a conscious corner of her mind, she realized they must be things coming from Loki's thoughts.

Lori saw strange things, colours and shapes she couldn't place, and occasional faces. Men mostly, there was a blonde guy that somehow looked familiar and an old guy with an eye patch who gave her some very contradictory emotions, and the most prominent… was Loki's face. Loki's face while it was… could it be… blue? Lori was too hazy to think about it, and the image disappeared again. But the way he had looked, so completely hopeless and angry and disgusted… That remained burned on her mental retina.

Finally she lost consciousness completely, falling into a deep sleep. Still, in her dreams that tormented blue face didn't leave her…

_(Pagebreak)_

Loki felt Lori had slipped away, and he found himself hoping she would have a good rest. The bruises in her face would have faded almost completely, save for a little bluish hue around her eye perhaps, and the stiffness of her body would have been lessened a lot as well. He wondered again about the young mortal female he shared a body with. Treating her injuries had awakened his anger again, the anger he still didn't understand completely. He had known this mortal for a few weeks now, yet he didn't think he had ever felt quite so vengeful in his long life before. Except perhaps in cases that concerned himself. But then, he had reason to be vengeful… didn't he? Loki wished he could just dismiss the thoughts and feelings like he had done for centuries… but there was something about this mortal body that forced him to feel. In this body he couldn't ignore sentiment… Thoughts of how he would make those mortal oafs suffer and beg put a grin of utter satisfaction on his face. There was no denying that he loved to cause his share of pain in the world… but the thought of Lori being grateful was an even stronger motivation this time.

_(Pagebreak)_

Lori was standing in front of the mirror, wearing the green wrap dress. It was still as beautiful as it had been back in the store, but Lori looked… insecure.

"You're sure?"

She had been overjoyed to see that the worst visible reminder of her encounter with the angry boyfriends was just a vague blue hue in her face and the remnants of a footprint on her thigh… but Loki's plan to wear the green dress on her off-day as well so she could get used to it already made her feel a little self-conscious. It did show a lot more skin than anything else she'd ever worn…

"I'm sure. But please take your hair out of that ponytail. I thought you washed it?"

Loki sounded a little annoyed, but Lori knew he wasn't mad at her. She could tell from the amount of times he called her "mortal" with various degrees of derision how annoyed he was with her. So far she hadn't been doing too bad… She pulled the scrunchy out of her hair and let her long red curls cascade over her shoulders. It looked too feminine for her usual getup…

"I hate my hair."

"Save your hate for better recipients. Your hair is good enough little mortal."

Lori scowled at that, but didn't comment.

"So, it's okay now?"

"First rule of battle, mortal. If you go to it with the air of a defeated, the odds of glory are small."

"Err…"

"Your stance. Stand straight, don't slump and don't stare at the floor."

Lori followed Loki's orders, straightening her figure. Loki nodded approving in the mirror.

"Much better."

"What now?"

"Food."

Now that was a command after Lori's taste. She made her way downstairs and opened the fridge.

"What shall we eat?"

"Hmm…"

Before Loki could answer, they heard the sound of the front door opening.

"Baby carrot, I'm home! You awake already?"

Mr Lauritsen's voice bellowed through the house. Lori rolled her eyes and whispered to Loki.

"If I weren't already, I would be now… That oaf."

Loki couldn't suppress a chuckle. The amount of times Thor had burst into his room and yelled for him to wake up so they could go on an adventure… at 6 am… were numerous…

Lori grabbed some things to eat and encountered her father in the kitchen.

"Hi dad."

She smiled shyly, knowing that her father was scrutinizing her with his eyes.

"Wow… Lori… is that a new dress?"

Lori smiled.

"Yeah. You like it?"

"Oh sure… I just thought… You know… I thought you would keep such clothing for when you're… you know…"

Lori's smile faltered. The way he had pronounced "such clothing" told her enough, not to mention the unspoken end of the sentence. _I thought you would keep from dressing feminine and sexy until you're not fat anymore._ Loki was quick enough to take over before Lori could lash out at her father. He granted the man a wide, slightly evil smile, pushed his 'front' up a bit and said.

"Well, I have no problem with my body. Do you?"

That made Mr Lauritsen stutter a non-intelligible excuse, and he made sure he was out of the kitchen as fast as possible. Loki granted control back to Lori, who slumped on a chair and silently cried.

"It's always the same. Every time I feel like I did something right he has to make me feel bad and the worst is that he doesn't even do it on purpose!"

"Lori."

"I will never be good enough for him. No matter what I do it doesn't matter because I'm fat, and fat is like… the annihilator of all good deeds!"

"Lori!"

"I can never be a good daughter because I'm fat…"

"Will you shut up and LISTEN for a moment you goddamned Mortal!?"

That made Lori stop her little act of self-pity. She sniffed but shut up, and Loki started talking.

"You are your own person. You don't wear that dress because you want to please your father; you wear it because you think it's beautiful! Not everything you do is about getting approval from that oaf! In fact, it doesn't even matter what he thinks, the only thing that matters is what you think! Do you really think throwing a tantrum or wallowing in self-pity is going to make him like you more? The only way you can earn someone else's respect is when you respect yourself!"

That was… a remarkably unusual speech coming from Loki. The moment the words had left his mouth he realized how paradoxical they were. Lori clearly noticed as well.

"You… you're not really good at following your own advice, are you?"

Loki sighed.

"What do you know, Mortal."

It was meant to sound villainous, but somehow it sounded more resigned than anything else. It was Lori's turn to talk now.

"Well, you tried to conquer a planet for respect. I'd say you're not one to speak."

"That's different."

"How exactly?"

"You're mortal."

"So? Are you not your own person because you're a god? Should you not respect yourself?"

Loki didn't know what to say. By shouting out that pile of advice to Lori he had opened another hatch of sentiment that had better remained closed…

"You wouldn't understand."

"Who says I wouldn't?"

"Your father's judgement of you is based on insignificant characteristics of appearance. You do deserve respect. Whereas I…"

"Don't say you don't deserve respect. Your adoptive dad is an asshole and he humiliated you for being a trickster, that doesn't make you a lesser person!"

Loki shook his head internally.

"There is more."

"Then tell me! I want to understand…"

"Go to the mirror."

Lori obliged and went to the toilet mirror. She startled a bit when she saw Loki, he looked nothing like his cocky old self she had gotten so used to… He bit his lip and willed his illusionary skin-color away. It was almost as if Lori could feel her mind growing colder. A vibrant blue, adorned with strange markings, replaced Loki's pale skin…

"Wow."

"Can you see it now, Mortal? Can you see now why I am not worthy of being respected?"

'You're blue."

"When I told you I was of an enemy people… I lied. You have enemies, and you have frost giants. Frost giants are the scum of the nine realms."

Suddenly a lot becomes clear to Lori. Standing in the small toilet space, staring at Loki's blue complexion, she suddenly understands it.

"That's it, isn't it? You weren't looking for respect from your father. All this talk about being greater than us, and despising mortals… You're still trying to convince yourself you deserve respect, isn't it?"

Loki scowls, but in his deep red eyes Lori sees she hit the sore spot.

"Why do you think you don't deserve respect?"

"I knew a mortal as yourself wouldn't understand."

Loki's answer to everything uncomfortable is being derisive, so much Lori has learned in their time together.

"I may not know about this whole blue skin thing, but I know racism when I see it. You know here one earth we used to have shit like that too? White people saying that people with black skin were nothing more than animals, monsters only good as slaves? That's bullshit, Loki. It's bullshit for whites and blacks, and the same goes for blue skin."

"Why are you trying so hard to convince me?"

Lori thought about that for a moment.

"You told me yourself that being fat is not a reason to be disrespected, and that I have to accept and respect myself first if I want to gain anyone's respect. To me, fat and skin colour aren't so different, Loki. It's both just the outside."

Loki wanted to hear those words more than anything, and at the same time he fought them. He had never thought that anything coming from a slightly overweight mortal female would stir something inside him, but for some reason when she said those words it meant more than when Thor of Frigga said them. She understood, on a much more basic level, even though she had no knowledge at all of frost giants and their history with Asgard.

"I… I can't… Why do you do this to me, mortal?"

"Because you did the same for me."

Loki knew honesty when he heard it; he wasn't the god of lies for nothing… and somehow that just made it all worse. Lori felt his agony and softly patted him in her mind.

"It's okay, you know…"

"No it's not."

"Fine, maybe it's not. But sometimes things have to be less than okay first to become more than okay later. It's like a curve, I think."

"You make no sense mortal."

"Friends don't have to make sense."

"You consider me… a friend?"

Lori grinned.

"Dude. You've seen me naked, insulted and nicknamed me, brought me in trouble, yelled at me, cared for my injuries and spilled your guts to me. Of course you're my friend."

Loki decided mortals had a bizarre idea about friendship. As he felt Lori's small mental arms around him in a slightly awkward hug, he decided he didn't mind.

**(Author's Comments)**

**Okay, I promised revenge, but I had to get this over with first before it could work. Sorry. I have already written the revenge part (and Loki kicks ass, seriously), so I can tell you with certainty it will be in the next chapter. Anyway! Loki is forced to come to terms with his Jotun-ness, as much as Lori is forced to come to terms with her fat. It's not solved yet, but it's a beginning...**

**Let me know what you think, I LIVE ON REVIEWS! Please, the more you review the better I feel and the more I write. Also, the next part is written already, so the more you review the faster I'll upload it! **

**PLEASE REVIEW I GIVE YOU COOKIES!**

**Cookies to: no-MY name's Anonymous, Tiryn, AvengersGirl-LokisSpy and Rubi Yuki! I love you guys!**


	10. Chapter 10

"You know we're so going to die for this."

"We are not. This is the execution of your Glorious Purpose."

"With the emphasis on 'execution'."

Lori was all dressed up, wearing the green dress and a pair of kitten heels that used to belong to her mother, and her red curls were flowing freely over her shoulders. Standing in front of the mirror she looked at Loki, who stared pensively at her. He rolled his eyes at her comment.

"Don't be silly, mortal."

"You're not the one who is about to get beaten up, Puny."

"On the contrary, I will be the one to do the beating this time."

"Urgh. Can't you borrow me your helmet or something? For protection, I mean."

Loki seriously considered the possibility… But it would cost him a lot of effort to conjure his helmet for Lori with the little bit of magic he had access to, not to mention how bizarre it would look.

"No. But… I can borrow you this. Close your eyes."

Loki concentrated, his brow furrowed in exertion. Suddenly Lori felt something around her neck. When she opened her eyes again she was wearing a thin silk scarf in beige, gold and green. Her mouth dropped open.

"Oh my… That's so beautiful!"

"Consider it a token for good luck. I wore that one when I… err…"

Remembering the circumstances, Loki wasn't so sure anymore the scarf would bring good luck…

"Do I want to know?"

"It involved kneeling people and a stolen eyeball."

"I wouldn't have expected any less from you."

Lori gave him her brightest smile. Loki nodded.

"Well then… To battle!"

_(Pagebreak)_

They exited the house and passed by an adolescent woman with huge glasses and a whole bunch of dogs on leashes.

"Hi Celia!"

"Oh hi Lori, going to school?"

"Yeah!"

"You sound happy!"

"I am! Today is going to be a great day!"

They had almost passed the young woman, when Lori noticed the large plastic bag Celia was holding.

"Celia, shall I put that in the trash for you?"

"Would you do that? You're such a darling!"

"Always eager to help!"

The young dog walker handed Lori a bag, which was most likely filled with the excrements of the dogs. Loki asked under his breath.

"What on earth do you want a bag full of dog shit for?"

"You can make stuff invisible, no?"

"Yeah…"

"Can you make it float too?"

"Yeah…"

"Well then?"

Loki understood Lori's plan and grinned in approval.

"Very devious… You learn fast, my little poison-tongue…"

Later in school they didn't waste any time. Before the first lesson they sneaked into the classroom. Usually people dumped their belongings in class before lessons started, so no one was surprised when she entered. Lori emptied little poop-bags on strategic chairs, and Loki then proceeded to make them invisible, un-smell-able and floating. He even added a special touch of sliminess to them, for an extra special effect. Next she pointed her attention to the snakeskin handbag that served as Liz Harrison's schoolbag.

"So what do you need?"

"Scissors."

She went through the bag for the girl's pen pocket. She then took out the scissors, looking uncomfortably at the door and the clock that hung above it.

"How much time do you need?"

"Just a minute. I know this spell like the back of my hand…"

Loki took control, grinned at the scissors, and grabbed the needle he had taken with him especially for this purpose. With a few elegant movements he scratched a series of runes into the metal of the scissors. A moment they seemed to glow green, then the glow disappeared, as did the runes.

"Done."

The next moment the bell rang.

"Just in time! Put it back, now!"

Quickly Loki stuck everything back in place. He had just gotten up from his crouched position on the floor when everyone entered. The girls stared at him as if he was an alien. Which, technically, was the case, but they couldn't know that.

"Look at that, Carrot Top has lady bits!"

There was vicious giggling, but Loki just smiled at them. That of course made the girls suspicious.

"You know what happened last time, carrot. Fool with us, and you're carrot puree."

With his most innocent voice Loki said.

"I wouldn't dream of it, Liz."

"I may hope so."

The tall girl swept her long brown tresses out of her face and haughtily grabbed her bag from the back of the class. Loki heard how her friends asked.

"How is she not black and blue? I thought you said Francis beat her ass?"

"Don't worry, he can do that number over again if she gives us trouble."

He smirked. Oh, if only they knew…

The lesson started without any problem, nothing strange or awkward happened, and the only disturbance was a ball of paper someone threw at Lori's head. Lori smiled, but fuddled with Loki's scarf in nervousness… It started when Liz reached into her pen pocket for a coloured marker. Her fingers touched the cold metal of her scissors, and suddenly a strange shiver went through her. First it was just her fingers, itching and trembling, but then it moved up to her arms, and before she knew it she had no control over her upper extremities anymore. Her hands reached for the pair of scissors with a creepy resoluteness. Liz screamed.

"M-My hands! Help!"

Everyone turned at her, and much to Lori and Loki's satisfaction many people already reached for their smart phones, eager to catch every bit of possible humiliation on camera. The teacher looked annoyed at the disturbance, but then realized the terror in Liz' eyes was real, as she seemingly couldn't stop her hand from reaching for her hair. She cried and screamed, but nothing could stop it from happening. With a definite snap the first lock of long chestnut brown hair fell to the floor. Most peculiar was that the remaining bit of hair wasn't brown anymore, but a strange pepper-and-salt colour, and curled like an old lady's perm.

"AAAH! MAKE IT STOP!"

The teacher was panicking, trying to hold Liz' hands away from her head, but the cutting couldn't be stopped. In front of everyone lock after lock of her gorgeous hair fell and was replaced with the ugliest type of haircut one can imagine. The teacher called out to another student to go look for help, but everyone was too entranced by the spectacle to adhere to the command. At long last there was no chestnut hair left on Liz Harrison's head, only haphazardly cut greyish-brown curls. The girl was lying facedown on her bench, crying like a baby. A moment everything as silent safe for the sobbing of Liz and the clicking of cell phone cameras... Then the teacher yelled.

"Put those darn things away!"

And as if that was a sign, suddenly more than half the class suddenly got drenched in stinking brown goo that appeared out of nowhere.

In the screaming, Loki sneaked away making sure no poop would stain the dress. Even if that made him more suspicious, he knew there was no way to prove he or Lori had anything to do with it all…

In the old teacher's toilet, Lori high-fived with the mirror…

"THAT was AWESOME LOKI!"

"I know, I know. The perks of being a god and all that."`

"I LOVE YOU!"

"Wait… what?"

"You gave me the best day EVER! How could I not love you?"

"The day isn't over yet."

"Please don't remind me of all the broken bones I'm about to get. I would rather enjoy our victory for the time being."

"Sure."

"WAAAH! I still can't believe WE DID IT!"

Loki's whole being was tense with excitement and… could that be… happiness? The spell he had put on Liz' pair of scissors had been one of the few options he had pondered over when looking for retribution on Sif… He hadn't used it back then, but he never forgot a spell once he learned it… And it had been worth it. Absolutely, completely worth it… It had been a long time since he had last felt this absolutely victorious…

"I want to bet that by the time we're home, Liz' makeover will have gone totally viral on YouTube!"

"I do not understand that phrase, I'm afraid. What is this YouTube?"

"Think of it as a platform for public humiliation, but with the world as your audience…"

"I start to like Midgard more and more…"

"If I'm a reference, Midgard likes you too Loki!"

_(Pagebreak)_

"The Haircut" and the "Poop Rain" were THE hot topics of the day, and most likely they would remain hot for the coming weeks. Most of the class had been sent home, because barely anyone had been spared of dog poop, and for the few people who had "survived" it the teachers didn't think it worth to give classes for. Therefor the class spent the rest of the day in the study. Lori noticed many people were whispering and pointing at her.

"…witch…"

"… sick shit she did…"

"… say she's crazy…"

"… mutant powers…"

It made her smile.

"Loki, don't you mind I'm taking credit for your efforts?"

"They were your efforts as well. Plus, this is an extra reward. After this, no one will even dare to look at you the wrong way for fear you'll curse them."

"I have no idea how I can thank you…"

Loki felt he mentally blushed.

"You know well enough you already have."

The day passed, and then came the much-dreaded walk home.

"Loki?"

"Don't worry. I've got this covered…"

The alley was still the same as it always had been, narrow, dark and full of uncouth promises… But Loki was in control and he smiled his most evil grin of anticipation when he caught the silhouettes of Francis Hennessey and his friends.

"Hi there boys."

"Liz already said you were going to be trouble. You're going to pay, bitch."

Loki just smiled.

"Do you really want to fight me? For all you know I might curse you…"

Francis pushed him against a wall, as he had done the first time with Lori…

"You've got a big mouth all of a sudden, fatty… I don't know what you did in that classroom, but I don't believe in curses and shit like that. You're just another little emo that needs a lesson."

Loki's smile widened to the demonic proportions that had scared even Thor back during the invasion.

"It seems to me that it's you, Mr Hennessey, who requires a lesson."

Effortlessly Loki freed himself from the boy's grip.

"Luckily I'm known to be an excellent teacher."

Immediately the other two came to help their friend, but Loki was faster. With an elegant and extremely powerful kick of his foot he made the first attacker double over with his hands in his cross, all while holding Francis in a stranglehold. He then pushed the blonde against a wall.

"Okay. Lets play this honest, shall we?"

The comment drew a chuckle from his lips, much to the terror of Francis. Loki then let him go. Immediately the three guys charged into attack again. Effortlessly, Loki fought them off. Lori's body wasn't used to fighting like this, and he was sure she would be awfully stiff tomorrow, but it would be worth it. He would make it worthwhile…

Kicking, punching and beating, Loki managed to rid himself of the two accomplices, who both went running for their lives after their share of hits… Francis however was a different case. Grunting he got up from the ground after being beaten, grabbing hold of a wooden stick that lay around between the trashes. He held it like a baseball bat and looked at Loki with an almost animal rage in his eyes.

"You are so going to die, fatass…"

"You're clearly not the brightest student of the class today…"

Francis tried to hit with the stick, and Loki simply hit it right in the air with more strength, shattering the thing in the boy's hands. His eyes widened and Loki grinned.

"Surprise!"

One kick against the chin, two punches in the stomach, and a knee in the balls, and Francis was brought down to a kneeling position. Loki grabbed hold of his bruised chin and pulled his face up.

"You know, no one ever fails my classes."

With that he gave the boy a decisive kick against the side of his head, rendering him unconscious. He then pulled the green dress back in order, shook Lori's red curls and walked as elegantly as possible out of the alley. Inside, Lori was freaking out.

"OMG! I can't believe you did that!"

Loki laughed.

"No broken bones!"

"I KNOW! You're so fucking AWESOME!"

"Thank you, Lori."

"I totally want to learn to fight like that… Do you think I can do that?"

"I happen to know a mortal female who has red hair just like you, a poisonous tongue that challenges yours, and she proves a worthy opponent in battle… I see not why you wouldn't manage."

"You're serious?"

"I'm always serious about important things, mortal."

"Hah."

"Fine. But I was serious about this."

"Let's go eat something sickly sugared and unhealthy. I think there's chocolate pie n the fridge at home."

"Perfect celebration food…"

"My thoughts exactly."

_(Pagebreak)_

"What's that?"

"It's all over the internet. SHIELD send it to us to investigate."

Steve looked over Tony's shoulder at the computer. A YouTube video titled "UNBELIEVABLE Cursed Girl Cuts Own Hair In Public" is playing, showing the grainy but still quite clear images of a screaming girl who cuts off her own hair, while a teacher is trying to stop her. The strangest is that the hair changes colour as soon as it's been cut.

"I thought SHIELD had it's own division for this kind of things? It doesn't seem like a worldwide threat to me…"

Tony frowns.

"They sent it here because of this."

He sharpens the image and zooms in on a person on the corner of the video: a slightly corpulent girl with a whole lot of red hair, a green dress and a scarf.

"It's a girl. She looks rather smug yes. Do they think it's her?"

"Don't you recognize that scarf? You were there, you know…"

Tony pulls up a security camera image of Loki in Stuttgart, and then zooms in on the scarf.

"It's a 100 per cent match."

"Damn… But how can you be sure? It could be a replica…"

"Thor told me Loki has a bit of a history with cutting off girl's hairs. Not to mention that there has to be magic involved in this."

"But…"

"It's either Loki, or someone disturbed enough to want to copy both his behaviour and his scarf. I'd say we check it out. If there is even a remote chance that it's Loki…"

"Yeah… I'll send Tasha and Clint on it."

**(Author's Notes)**

**Yaay! REVENGE! I hope you liked what I came up with to punish Liz... And Francis probably won't bother anyone ever again. But of course, new trouble are already underway... you can't really display that much magic in a public place without getting on SHIELD's radar... **

**PLEASE REVIEW! I love reviews, they make me write more and faster! Please Please PLEASE? There WILL be cookies! Also, suggestions are always welcome!**

**Cookies to: Rubi Yuki, Texas Bobcat, meow, lilirox187, Lywick, Am4444, Tiryn and AvengersGirl-LokisSpy!**


	11. Chapter 11

"Let's play Twenty Questions."

"What?"

"It's a game. You get to ask twenty questions each, and the other must answer truthfully."

Loki rolled his eyes.

"Mortal, don't…"

"Ah come on? Please?"

Lori was lying in the bathtub, and she tried very much not to think about the fact she was technically lying naked in the bathtub with a man. The chocolate cake had been tasty, and Thank the Norns –whatever those were- her father hadn't come home already. A bath was exactly what she needed…

"Fine. But I get a right of veto."

"For one question only! You can use the privilege only once!"

"Fine! Now lets get it over with mortal!"

"Good. Tell me… about Asgard. What is it like?"

"The weather's always nice and the buildings are higher and more magnificent than anything in this mortal realm. And most of the people are either fighting or eating, or in Volstagg's case both at the same time. I believe fighting is our traditional pastime."

"I've seen that… you clearly had a lot of practice…"

"I'm not a fan of physical combat … but when your brother is Thor, you learn to fight. It's self-preservation."

Loki chuckled darkly. Thor… his not-brother… Once again that little mortal had made him think of something he didn't want to think about. How cunning she was, the little poison-tongue…

"My turn. Tell me about your mother."

Lori rolled her eyes.

"You just do that because I made you think of your family, no?"

"Just answer the question."

"My mom was called Fabienne. I never felt like calling her mom. She was almost as tall as you, thin and simply gorgeous. When I was little I thought she was a fairy tale princess. I adored her and she ignored me. I guess she had better things to do than to look after me. I can't say I missed her when she left."

Lori's voice was superficially cheerful, but Loki felt the sentiment his hostess was hiding, betrayal, pain and anger…

"She didn't leave because of you."

"I know that, Loki. I was a meaningless blip on the edge of her radar. Leaving because of me would require for her to pay attention to me first."

Loki felt clearly something was stirring inside Lori. He knows it's bad, but he couldn't control his curiosity.

"So she never gave you any approval?"

And Lori burst out.

"Seriously Loki! I… I know, I fucking KNOW you understand so WHY do you need to push me facedown on it? I wasn't even good enough for her to ACKNOWLEDGE MY EXISTENCE! "

"But you're not mad at her. You're mad at yourself. She's the fairy tale princess, she can't do anything wrong, so the fault must be with you. Any idea how childish THAT is?"

"Why do you always try to make me hate you, Loki?"

"You do the same to me."

Loki didn't know why he felt the need to prod at the mortal female's emotions. He had accepted that he liked her, and that he felt protective over her, but…

"It's my turn for a question now."

"Then ask one."

"Tell me about your brother."

It was a low blow, but Loki took it with relative grace.

"For one, the person you refer to is not my brother. Thor is an oaf of the worst kind. He is loud, with no regard for personal space, less tact and sensitivity than a rock and to add insult to injury he's dumb as a bilgesnipe's turd. I feel an extreme dislike for his person."

"But you miss him."

For a moment there, Loki didn't know what to say.

"What?"

"I said that you miss him."

"I do not."

"Yes you do."

Loki didn't answer, pouting. Lori giggled and got out of the now already cold bath water.

"You describe him as if you hate him, but you forget you live in my head. You're doing an enormous effort to convince yourself you hate him, mostly."

"You don't know anything."

"I shouldn't be surprised, since you're the God of Lies and all, but… you do a great job lying to yourself most of all."

"As if you have any right of speech there mortal! You tell yourself you weren't worth your mother's attention to stop yourself from realizing she probably was a self-absorbed bitch who wasn't worth YOUR attention! You tell yourself you hate your father but he's the only one who always cares for you and always tries to help, even if he's doing it wrong!"

Loki was angry with Lori, because it was all so clear to him and she didn't see… and suddenly Lori started to laugh. Not sarcastically, but really.

"Mortal!"

"Congratulations Puny. You did it again. You just described your own situation to the detail. And threw a heap of advice at my head that you could use very well yourself."

"WHAT?"

"Your dad's an asshole. If I ever get to talk to him I'm so going to bitch-slap him for treating you as he did. Your whole problem turns around how to get attention from him, respect and love and care and all that stuff… but he's a freaking asshole! He's the one unworthy of your attention, not the other way round! And then there's your brother. Okay, if what you say is true then he's not the brightest crayon in the box, but you wouldn't miss him as you do if he weren't a good brother too at times… You know I'm right."

Loki thought about it, and suddenly felt sick. The mortal female was right indeed… again. He didn't understand how it was possible that there were so many things alike in their lives. It was almost as if it was done on purpose… He felt Lori hug him internally. It wasn't unpleasant, although slightly awkward.

"You okay?"

"No."

"I'm sorry."

"I couldn't have expected anything else from you, little Poison-Tongue. I attacked you, and you retaliated. There is nothing to apologize for."

"Yes there is. I apologize for making you feel bad."

No one had ever, ever apologized to Loki for making him feel bad. They either did it on purpose, like Odin, or unconsciously, like Thor. In thousands of years of existence, it had never happened… It was an odd feeling that gave him.

"You… you're forgiven."

The hug tightened a bit.

"I won't ask after your family again."

"You know that's a promise you can't keep. You're way too curious for your own good."

"Oh you."

"You, little mortal, are lucky I have to share a head with you. Otherwise you would have lost it already with your insolences."

"At least I didn't bet it."

"Oh shut up."

_(Pagebreak)_

The next day Lori walked to school with a confidence she had never felt before. It wasn't just because she did look very nice in the green blouse and black trousers Loki had chosen for her, but because deep inside she knew no one would insult her that day. Loki found the newfound self-esteem a pleasant change; he hadn't realized how constricting a slightly depressed mind could be to live in…

In school it turned out to be more than just not insulting her. People fell silent and stepped aside when she passed by, and the only looks in her direction were either admiration or fear. Loki enjoyed it greatly.

"I am quite certain if you would command them to kneel before you now, they would."

Lori chortled.

"It must be the scarf. Didn't you say you wore it in a situation that involved kneeling people?"

"Ah yes. In that case, better not go there. It didn't end too well…"

The day passed, even quicker than usual because of Loki's continuous comments on everything. It made Lori smile inside. She remembered how much Loki's voice had scared and annoyed her in the beginning… Now it was almost a reassurance to hear him make sarcastic remarks about "mortals" and "Midgardian technology"… In the lunch break she made her way to the old teacher's toilet, so she could have a face-to-face chat with him. She just wanted to say something to the god in the mirror, when she heard a sob. And another one.

"It appears that you're not the only mortal drama queen in this facility…"

"As if you have any right of speech there…"

"I did specify 'mortal'."

"So you admit to being a drama queen?"

Another sob sounded through the toilet before Loki could answer. Lori realized the sound was coming from one of the toilet stalls.

"Err… hello? Are you okay?"

Lori would have sworn she could feel Loki roll his eyes. The sobbing only became worse.

"If you tell me what's wrong perhaps I can help?"

Now the sobbing turned into a broken but still very recognizable voice.

"What do you want? H-Haven't you d-done enough already!?"

Liz Harrison. Liz Harrison was scooped up in a dirty toilet stall, crying her eyes out apparently. Loki grinned, and Lori felt a bit of triumph too, but the crying was… well, it sounded too familiar. Loki suddenly felt something coming from Lori's mind that he hadn't expected… Empathy.

"Err…"

"Everyone avoids me like I have Herpes, Francis broke up with me, I'm a worldwide Internet joke, and thanks to your curse my hair will remain like this for EVER! Are you happy now?"

Lori didn't answer, and the silence was simply filled with more crying.

"Liz. Will you listen to me?"

The sobbing silenced a bit, so Lori continued.

"You made my life hell for two years. Ever since you're in our class you've made fun of me and insulted me. And I know you never did anything really drastic, I know I can't complain, but do you have any idea what it does with a person, hearing time after time how ugly you are?"

Liz sobbed, but didn't say anything. Loki observed everything with both interest and incomprehension…

"It hurts. So yes, I know what I did hurt you. But it was payback really."

"B-but… but… THIS? H-How could you? M-My life is r-ruined!" Liz cries out. "Every time I look into the mirror I HATE MYSELF!"

"You think you didn't bring the same on me? Don't you think years of being called ugly haven't made me hate my own reflection?"

Liz just cried, and Loki didn't understand what Lori was up to. He couldn't make sense of the mess of emotions he perceived from his hostess… Anger, annoyance, pity, empathy, sadness and happiness… it was all utterly confusing.

"Let me see how bad it is."

"What? So you can poke even more fun at me?"

"No, to see if there's anything we can do to help you."

"W-Why would you help me?"

That, Loki thought, was a good question indeed.

"Because I've had my payback. You can either go on hating me and try to retaliate, or you can call it even and let me help you."

"Even?"

"Yes. Even. You hurt me, I hurt you, and I'd say we're even."

There was a silence, not even broken by sobs and whimpering, and the door of the stall opened, showing Liz with puffy red eyes and a horrible haircut looking like someone haphazardly cut off large chunks of hair and then treated the remainder with a potent mixture of peroxide, perm product and mouse-grey hair dye. It was without a doubt the ugliest haircut Lori and Loki and ever laid eyes on.

"Oh. Wow."

Liz started crying once more, but Lori stopped her before she could get into a full drama again.

"Have you tried…?"

"Dying, straightening, I've tried everything. Your… curse… whatever it is... is just too strong, it keeps going back to THIS!"

"Have you tried cutting off more?"

"H-How do you mean?"

"I mean a buzz cut. No offence, but it would be an improvement."

Liz looked at her with big eyes from under her ruined hair.

"I… I d-don't have a hair clipper."

"My dad does. I can help you if you like…"

Liz bit her lip, then nodded softly. That was enough for Lori. Sneaking out of school had never been much of an effort before, and now even the teachers didn't dare to stop her. With Liz trailing behind her, her hair hidden under a grey hoodie, she made her way home. On the street though she noticed something that made her feel uncomfortable. Mentally she asked.

"Loki?"

"Yes?"

"Is… Is that car following us?"

Loki peaked at the car she meant. It was a relatively inconspicuous family car.

"It's not moving, therefor not following us."

"I saw it this morning in our street too. I… It just gives me the creeps."

Loki wanted to say very badly Lori was being paranoid, but the car… it was just a little too inconspicuous, a little too shiny for a family car, and what family car has tinted glass on all sides? He didn't like it.

"We can test it. When we go through the alley, if they're actually following us, they'll have to drive around and they'll end up in our street after we've arrived there. If the car turns up in the street, we know it."

Lori didn't particularly like that answer. Secretly she had hoped for one of Loki's dismissive "Oh Mortal" answers, because… well, the feeling of being followed wasn't a pleasant one…

_(Pagebreak)_

Lori went to get her father's hair clipper and told Liz to make herself comfortable. Not surprising though, when she returned the girl was still standing in the middle of the room, looking around anxiously. Lori pointed her to the kitchen, wrapped a towel around Liz' shoulders and started trimming the curls to a blondish buzz cut. The ugly colour wasn't so clear anymore when the hair was very short, and luckily for Liz she didn't have an egghead. Lori held up a mirror for her, and even Loki had to admit the result of the quick beauty intervention wasn't so awful. It was definitely better than before…

"See? It's much better."

"I… I look like a boy."

Strangely enough, Liz didn't cry at that indeed not entirely untrue realization. She blinked at her reflection.

"I really look like a boy."

"It's really better, trust me."

"I…" Suddenly she blurted out. "I always wanted to look like a boy when I was younger… But when I became older my parents said it wasn't becoming of me. They said people would get the wrong idea about me if I dressed like a boy."

Lori had a little problem imagining the ultra-feminine Liz as a tomboyish type… Although she did look like one now, with her shaved head and baggy clothes…

"It suits you."

"Thank you… I guess."

There was a bit of uncomfortable silence… Liz suddenly remarked.

"This doesn't mean we're friends."

Lori shook her head. She couldn't imagine ever being friends with Liz. There was just too much history between them.

"No. We're not. But we're even."

"Even… I think I like that."

"So do I."

There was a little awkward moment at the front door, when Liz didn't know how to say goodbye properly, but then she left, and Loki and Lori were left once more to their own devices. Loki had had the chance to observe Lori, and he truly meant what he said when he spoke again.

"Little Poison-Tongue… I am proud of you."

Lori's heart skipped a beat.

"What?"

"You… You did something I was never able to do. You called it quits, even, with your enemy. Even though I know very well you still dislike her. I… You carry more wisdom than your mortality would let believe on."

Lori thought for a moment, and then dropped on the couch.

"Maybe, Loki… Maybe it's because I am mortal, not despite of it."

"What do you…?"

"You told me you are old, that you lived for ages and aren't likely to die any time soon, if ever… So that means you have all the time in the universe to make up with your enemies. There will never be a moment it's to late to reconcile, that you'll be stuck wit regret. That makes it a lot easier to stay mad at someone forever. When you realize that any day could be the last day… Then you're more motivated to clean up your shit instead of piling it up, if you know what I mean."

Loki knew what she meant. The moment she spoke out those words the realization flooded him completely. He sounded uncharacteristically meek when he softly said.

"I don't think I will be able to use mortal in a derisive way anymore now…"

Lori smiled to herself and mentally patted Loki.

"It's not because you are immortal that you can't make up with your family you know."

Loki shook her off, feeling a little… uncomfortable.

"I have many enemies, little poison-tongue. Why do you suggest…"

Lori interrupted him before he could say anything else.

"Your family is important to you. It's quite futile to deny it, you do live in my head you know."

Loki scowled, but knew Lori was right, for the who-knew-how-manieth time already. But he would be damned before he would tell her. He supposed she already knew anyway; in their shared time she had become exceptionally good at reading him. He decided to change the subject.

"Wonder if that car…"

"Great. I had just managed to forget about that."

"It's probably nothing anyway…"

But when Lori looked out of her window, the first thing that caught her eye was the inconspicuous grey family car with its tinted windows.

"Oh shit."

**(Author's Notes)**

**I know you were all waiting for some Avengers action... but they're still on a stake-out for the moment, and this was a fairly important scene for the plot. I really hope you liked it! Loki and Lori are the best therapists for each other, don't you agree?**

**PLEASE REVIEW! The more reviews I get, the faster I write and upload. So REVIEW! There will be cookies (or pie)!**

**My lovely reviewers... GirlofRainbows, no-MY name's Anonymous, Ryle Culler, srgthamy, Tiryn, AvengersGirl-LokisSpy, Rubi Yuki, TheSillyKitten and lilirox187... *has Loki hand you all Celebration Chocolate Pie* I LOVE YOU GUYS!**


	12. Chapter 12

The next morning… was awkward. Awkward in the sense that Lori woke up snuggled close to an armour-bearing frost giant with a ridiculous helmet, who also had his arms wrapped around her. The moment the notion she wasn't alone in bed penetrated her sleep-dazed mind she jumped up and yelped.

"WAAH!"

This caused Loki to wake up as well, making him utter an equally unmanly squeak.

"AAAH!"

A moment, they both sat up in bed, staring at each other. Then the realization came through.

"Loki?"

The god scowled.

"Who else?"

Lori's shocked expression was replaced by a huge smile. Before Loki knew it she had wrapped her arms around him in a tight, happy hug.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that…"

Loki just hugged her as well. His body felt strange, unfamiliar. His height, his long fingers and the lack of rounded forms… it would take some getting used to again. Not to mention the odd feeling of not having to share his thoughts with someone. For a while they just sat there, holding ach other tight on Lori's bed. The realization was still slowly seeping into Loki's mind; he was free again, Odin's punishment had been revoked! At long last Lori let go of him. Loki observed the way she looked at him. It was strange, not knowing how she was feeling… he missed it.

"I have no words for how strange this is."

"Well…"

"Does this mean you're… free?"

Loki bit his lip. He had attacked this girl's planet; he didn't think she would find it suitable punishment…

"I don't know. I believed that I was to spend a mortal lifetime here on Midgard…"

Lori chortled.

"You mean you would have been in my head for all my life? Wow… That… That would have been seriously awkward. Now I think about it like that, I'm kind of happy you're out of there… just imagine I would have had to listen to your comments while having sex… Brrr…"

Loki raised an eyebrow at the slightly rambling Lori.

"'Now you think about it like that'? How did you think about it before then?"

Lori blushed.

"I… Err… It's… I mean…"

Loki filled in.

"That it's kind of lonely in there now?"

Her mouth fell open.

"Okay. So you can read my mind even when you're not in there. Creepy and unfair advantage, Loki!"

Loki laughed.

"Oh mortal…"

Then he said, while ticking against his own head.

"I can't read minds. But… It IS kind of lonely inhere too."

Lori hugged him again. She had the feeling Loki had never been hugged enough…

The general strangeness of Lori's life was so high already that sitting in her PJ's in bed hugging a fully armour-clad Norse god didn't really stun her anymore. But after a while she did realize there would be quite a few practical problems now that Loki had his body back. For one, it was pretty much impossible to hide an almost 2meter tall Norse god. She contemplated if he would fit in her closet, but discarded the idea. Too many very bad jokes in that one…

"You look in deep thought, little poison-tongue…"

"Just… thinking where I'm going to hide you."

Loki had thought about that too. It was nice to have his body back, but he was still a wanted war criminal here and Lori's body had been a great disguise… Without it they would locate and catch him in no time. Yet if the punishment really had been revoked, then Odin, or at least Thor, wouldn't allow the humans to imprison him. Perhaps he shouldn't hide… The sooner they found him, the sooner Asgard would have to intervene. He looked at Lori, who was biting her fingernails. He couldn't allow the Midgardian warriors to hurt Lori… and he knew very well they would if they would find him with her. They were already after her for the hair-cutting prank, but for as far as he knew they had no idea he was involved in it. If he just disappeared and showed himself somewhere else, somewhere far from Lori's house, she would be free of suspicion, and after a while SHIELD would realize Lori didn't possess any magic and leave her alone. It was a perfect plan… He softly took Lori's hand and brought it away from her mouth. She looked up.

"What?"

"Don't bite your nails, it's gross."

That was not what he had wanted to say, and Lori knew it. She rolled her eyes.

"Come on, spill. What is it?"

"I will have to leave."

Lori had come to that conclusion as well. The All-mighty Asshole had freed Loki from her mind, so now he would probably have to go back to his home. The thought that she would probably never see him again though… that made her bite her nails.

"I know. But… Do you have to leave immediately?"

"Better as soon as possible. I don't want to bring you in trouble."

Lori grinned.

"Now that's a first!"

"Mortal!"

"Puny!"

It was just friendly banter. Friendly banter with an edge of discomfort, because they both knew it could be the last time they got to fool around with each other like that…

"You know Loki… I… I don't really want you to leave. I mean… I will miss you so much."

She knew Loki was not a fan of sentiment… But now it was him who pulled her close.

"I will miss you too, little mortal…"

He didn't know why exactly, but it was the truth. Being with Lori had learned him so much, and he was grateful for it. Seeing the world through different eyes had opened his own to a world of possibilities. He had come to like Lori, her big mouth and her drama and her insightful take on many things… Yes, he would miss her, that little mortal. But he had to leave, for her own good. She was in much greater danger than she probably realized, and every minute he stayed with her he made the danger bigger.

"You should prepare for school."

"It's gonna be so boring without you…"

Lori dressed, and then noticed the silk scarf that was neatly folded on her desk.

"Your scarf… now you can take it back."

Loki shook his head.

"Keep it. So you'll never forget me."

"As if I would be able to do that… You're quite memorable, you know. Hard to forget those horns…"

That earned her a poke. She started laughing.

"Oh my! I can't believe you POKED me!"

"I picked up a few things."

They laughed a bit, and then Lori became serious again. She wrapped the scarf around her neck.

"Thank you Loki. I will always, always remember you. Always."

There was a moment of silence. Loki was still sitting on Lori's bed, feeling a bit lost.

"I will never forget you either, Lori. Until Ragnarok comes I will always remember you."

"So… then this is goodbye? I… I guess you won't be here anymore when I come back…"

"I'm afraid so. It is better if I leave as soon as possible."

"Better wait until my dad's out of the house… He's still sleeping now I guess…"

Loki got up, and Lori just hugged him again. Lots of hugs in a very short time, but Lori knew she had to make the best of the time she got. Loki noticed she was crying.

"Don't cry, you silly mortal! I will reconcile with Heimdall so he can tell me all about what you're doing. Maybe he'll even let me visit you some time…"

Lori smiled through her tears.

"Really? Could you like… come to my end prom?"

"I'll try my best."

"And what about my birthday?"

"Heimdall is tough to banter with, little mortal…"

"Don't bet your head, okay? Or any other limbs… Just… stay out of trouble?"

"Did you just ask the god of mischief and lies to stay out of trouble?"

Lori nodded very seriously.

"Oh yes. I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

Loki decided not to tell her he was destined to instigate the end of the world. That might just cause a bit of a freak-out he wanted to avoid.

"Don't worry about me. Now run to school, okay? Don't be late!"

Lori gave him a last hug and then stormed down the stairs, leaving the god to his own devices in her room. Loki thought about places he could go… and then he remembered Lori had said her father was still in the house. Perhaps he could give the little poison-tongue one last goodbye gift…

_(Pagebreak)_

Mr Lauritsen stumbled downstairs for a fresh cup of coffee, and did a rather unexpected discovery. Lounging on one of his kitchen chairs sat a tall man with a bizarre helmet, a cape, armour, and a fearsome looking staff. He immediately recognized the characteristics of the world-conquering alien psychopath Loki of Asgard… The kitchen door slammed close behind him, and he found himself trapped with the god, who didn't look too friendly. Scrambled against the door he uttered.

"W-who are you? W-what do you w-want?"

Loki gave him his demonic smile.

"You know very well who I am, Mr Lauritsen. My name is Loki, and I need to speak with you about your daughter."

Lori's father went pale.

"Lori… w-what did you do to her?!"

Loki frowned.

"I did not do anything to her, Mr Lauritsen. What I mean to discuss is what YOU did to her."

The red-haired man was clearly highly shocked and confused. Before he could stutter something, Loki continued.

"You, Mr Lauritsen, have an amazing daughter. She is highly intelligent, kind-hearted and funny. She's a better person than most of you pathetic humans. But she thinks she isn't worth anything; she hates her reflection and thinks she's ugly, and do you know why that is?"

Mr Lauritsen shook his head, and Loki poked him with his staff, suddenly standing before him with an angry frown.

"Because. Of. You."

"B-but…"

"Hearing time after time how she is fat, how she is ugly, how she can't wear pretty clothes because she's fat, how she is lazy and unhealthy and at fault for her own looks… do you think that goes over without consequences? And then I'm not even talking about the way you treat her. Deeds speak louder than words, and your deeds tell her that she means nothing to you."

"That's… that's n-not true!"

"When was the last time you praised her for her intelligence, for her good grades, for the way she cares about others?"

Mr Lauritsen's eyes widened a bit further.

"Uhm…"

"I thought so. When did you last introduce her to your friends and acquaintances with pride? Did you know she believes you're ashamed of her because she's ugly? She thinks you deliberately ignore her or talk past her when in company because you don't want people to think you belong with her!"

"T-That's… T-that's n-nonsense! L-Lori doesn't like t-to be t-talked about! She's shy, s-she always hides on parties!"

"And tell me Mr Lauritsen… Why do you think that is? Why do you think a smart young woman hides instead of having fun?"

"I… S-she…"

"Because you NEVER do any effort at all to make her feel like she's NOT an outcast because of the way she looks! She calls herself the elephant man. She considers herself deformed. She starved herself for two weeks after you took her to that doctor without asking first! Don't you see that how you treat her is not how a father should treat a child?"

Mr Lauritsen looked pale like a corpse.

"H-how… how d-do you know t-this…?"

"Because in opposite to you I have interest in what's below the outside, Mr Lauritsen. I have gotten to know your daughter as someone whose potential is being smothered by the people around her because they don't see anything past a few pounds of superfluous flesh. Someone who has a kind heart that is slowly being poisoned by the words of others."

Loki bent closely to Mr Lauritsen, barely a few centimetres from the man's face.

"Treat her right now you still can, Mr Lauritsen… Or she may end up like me."

With that he teleported away, leaving Lori's father panting and trembling against the kitchen door.

_(Pagebreak)_

Clint and Natasha had been following Lori walk to school in their inconspicuous grey spy-car, when suddenly a device started beeping.

"We have a magic reading.."

"Is it the girl?"

"No. It's in a nearby park."

"Alarm SHIELD."

_(Pagebreak)_

Loki looked around him. This was not Central Park… Then his eye caught on a little name sign. "Central Park." Great. Of course, most villages and towns had a place called Central park… Loki couldn't believe he had made such a rookie mistake as to not specify which Central Park he wanted to go to. The spell had him brought to the closest location with that name, so he was still in Lori's neighbourhood. When the bushes rustled and armed men surrounded him, he knew he was in very, very deep trouble… Clint got to see how Loki looked at the men around him, and…. face-palmed. It would have been comical if not for the circumstances.

_(Pagebreak)_

Lori knew something was wrong when she walked through that one alley and felt as if someone was following her. Oh, how she wished Loki were still in her head to distract her from this probably irrational paranoia… But irrational or not, she couldn't shake the feeling, and that turned out to be for good reason. She felt a sharp pain in her leg, and when she looked she saw a thin metal dart sticking out of it.

"Oh fuck…"

Then she suddenly felt very dizzy and dropped to the ground of the alley. Second time to go down there, crossed her mind… Vague she heard voices, a man and a woman.

"She's out of it?"

"Soon she will be."

That was the last thing Lori heard before her mind went blank and she lost consciousness...

**(Author's Notes)**

**So Loki and Lori have been separated at last! Unfortunately, that doesn't end too well, with SHIELD interfering... I hope you liked what Loki did to Mr Lauritsen. I just felt like he had to do that; perhaps if someone had done that to his family he wouldn't have ended up in such trouble...**

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**(Every time you don't review, more evil stuff happens to Loki and Lori! Save them with a little love!)**


	13. Chapter 13

Loki hadn't fought his captors. All he had done was facepalm at his own stupidity for messing up a most basic transportation spell. Clint and Natasha wondered what was going on with him.

"Do you think this is another one of his tricks? I mean…"

"Yeah. He didn't resist capture."

"Why the fuck isn't he on Asgard anyway? I thought they would lock him away forever… Or perhaps behead him or something; I don't know what kind of medieval punishment they have there. Whatever it was he would have deserved it!"

"It's not the first time he has tricked Thor into letting him free…"

"True. But what about…"

Clint bent closer to Natasha, as he saw Loki was listening in on them. He had noticed the way Loki's eyes narrowed, and instinctively felt it wouldn't be a good idea to talk about their young captive while the god was not yet behind a few inches bullet-and-magic-proof glass.

"How is the… you know?"

"Safe. I'm not sure about the sound part."

"I can see why…"

They were going to bring both Loki and the young girl to Stark Tower. Tony had been working on magic-detection systems, and he would love to have a chance at studying Loki… not to mention the girl they had captured, who was either a magic user herself, or under a special type of Loki's mind-control somehow. Fury had objected at first, but when Stark had explained the facilities he had at his disposal, the director had agreed…

"What about her family?"

"If returning her will prove to be impossible, a suitable story will be made up."

Loki listened in, even though their whispering was barely audible. What he had feared had indeed happened. They had Lori. He felt anger coursing through his veins… how dare they hurt her! His rationality won this time. He would have to wait it out, see where they were brought. He couldn't trust his magic completely at the moment, especially not if he would have to teleport with another person out of a flying craft in the middle of nowhere. He didn't think it would do Lori much good if they ended up on the Antarctic, or in the forests of Norway, or on Tahiti… (All these were places he had accidentally visited while practicing teleportation, long ago in a distant past…)

Clint did his namesake justice by watching the god like a hawk.

"I think he's plotting something."

"I don't think it… I'm sure of it."

_(Pagebreak)_

They had brought him to that wretched tower. Being back on the site of his defeat left a bitter taste in Loki's mouth. Of all the places in this realm… The cell they put him in was very reminiscent of the other one, all glass and no toilet. Only this time he didn't have the pleasure of knowing it was all a ruse. For the first time Loki hoped Thor would show up fairly quick. If anything, that might give him an explanation as well. He sat down on the floor of his cell, legs crossed. It wouldn't be long before they would come to interrogate him… And indeed, he just sat down when Director Fury entered. Immediately he got up again.

"Well. We meet again."

"I wonder, does this cell have a mechanism like the other one had? Will I fall 60 storeys down if I scratch the glass?"

"What are you up to, Loki?"

Loki glared at him.

"What makes you think I'm up to something?"

"The last time you didn't resist apprehension and got locked up by us you certainly were up to something…"

Loki shrugged.

"What's the fun in doing things over?"

"Do you realize that if you refuse to cooperate… there are quite a few people here who would like to have a word with you, and perhaps a little more than that."

"Where in this am I not cooperating, director? I did not resist apprehension, for as far I know I didn't commit any crimes since I was brought back to Asgard, and I was honest about not having any plans."

"The girl. What have you done to the girl?"

The director immediately noticed something in Loki's demeanour changed. He tensed up, glared at the one-eyed man. With a venomous tone he said.

"Hurt one hair on her head and I will make you regret the day you were born, human."

Fury was smart. The god's reaction had told him everything he needed to know.

"Then you better cooperate."

He walked out of the room with the cell, but made sure that Loki could hear him when he spoke into some sort of communicator.

"You can start the tests."

_(Pagebreak)_

Loki cursed himself. Why hadn't he shut his mouth? Lori's bigmouthed behaviour had rubbed off on him it seemed… he should have acted as if he didn't give a damn about her, so they would have left her alone… The situation wasn't looking too good at the moment. Loki went to sit down again and concentrated on Lori. He knew her mind almost as good as his own now, he knew how it felt, moved, worked… He could find her. While he was seemingly meditating, Tony was watching the cell on camera with Clint and Natasha.

"What the fuck is he doing?"

"It looks like meditating."

"Oh great. So Reindeer Games is into yoga stuff? Next time I'm so gonna say Namaste to that asshole"

The two assassins shook their heads.

"Any progress on the girl?"

"Apparently her name is Lori Lauritsen, 17 years old, no criminal record, family is clean too. Her parents are divorced and she lives with her dad. I checked and so far she has no mutations on any sort, nothing that could explain the hair-cutting incident. I'm also checking that scarf, to see if it's somehow controlling her."

"And the girl herself?"

"Sedated. I didn't want to take the risk of suddenly being covered in poop or losing my lovely locks, you see."

"Any idea when she'll be ready for interrogation?"

"Not sure…"

In the meanwhile, Loki had found Lori. He could feel her mind, even though it was weak… Now he just needed to get to her. He hadn't planned on resisting his captors, but he couldn't allow them to hurt the girl. As a plan formed in his mind he smiled. That smile was the last thing the people in the control room saw, before all cameras went down. The lights and other equipment followed. Simply teleporting out of the cell was not much of an effort, and the darkness posed no problem to him. When the SHIELD officers stormed into the cell room, Loki was long gone…

_(Pagebreak)_

"JARVIS? JARVIS for fuck's sake come online!"

"My rudimentary systems have been restored, Sir."

"Thank god. Although, not one particular god. Speaking of which, where the fuck is he?"

"Loki currently finds himself in research lab 12."

Tony turned to the assassins.

"You heard him."

_(Pagebreak)_

Loki simply followed Lori's mental signature, leading him to a laboratory. Lori was tied to a table and attached to several machines reading things like brain activity and heartbeat, but for as far as he could see she was unharmed. Clearly the director had been bluffing, but then… it was better not to take risks. He detached the machines and the IV with what probably was some type of sedative.

"I'm sorry Lori… I shouldn't have brought you in trouble…"

As if she knew he was there, she shifted a bit. He took her hand and softly caressed it.

"We could escape, but… It's important I talk to Thor. But… don't worry, I won't let them hurt you again."

Loki knew the girl couldn't hear him, but that didn't stop him from saying those things. In a way it was more for his own comfort than that of Lori…

When the doors of the lab flew open, showing Clint, Natasha, Tony Stark and a small army of SHIELD agents, Loki rolled his eyes.

"Hello again."

"Get away from the girl, Loki."

That gave rise to another eyeroll.

"As far as I know you've hurt her more than I have."

Tony interjected.

"You can't control her anymore. I have the scarf!"

That made the god burst out in sarcastic laughter.

"Really, Stark? Really? I don't believe you actually think I can mind-control someone with a fucking scarf! It's just a scarf!"

Loki talked… too much like a human being and not so much as a Shakespearean inspired deity. One of the SHIELD agents grinned to a colleague.

"Someone's been taking language classes…"

"What do you want with the girl?"

"I didn't want anything with her. Seriously, I wasn't planning on involving her in any way."

"Then why…"

Loki shrugged.

"Even gods make mistakes. It was a bit of a navigational error. I didn't mean to get caught so close to her place."

"But you did mean to get caught?"

"Yeah. I need to have a word with Thor."

They were all kind of stunned. For one, evil deity Loki was holding a girl's hand with clear affection, second, evil deity Loki admitted to making a mistake and thus not being perfect, and then third, evil deity Loki wanted to talk to his adoptive brother, while usually he avoided the thunder god like the plague if Thor was to be believed. It all just didn't fit. Before they could make a remark on it though, they were interrupted by the sound of breaking glass and thunder. Thor had arrived, straight through the window, Mjolnir in the hand. Tony sighed.

"You gods have something with breaking my windows, don't you?"

The blonde god ignored Tony's remark and bellowed.

"LOKI! Father sent for you!"

"He is not my father. Nice to see you too, Thor."

Thor stared at Loki, who was softly patting Lori's hair. His mouth hung open a bit. He hadn't expected such a strange behaviour from his brother…

"Who is that, brother?"

"Whatever Odin intended to do, it's with her that I ended up."

Thor stared at Loki. His voice was full of surprise when he said.

"And… you came free? So soon?"

It was clear he could hardly believe it.

"Perhaps for once I did learn the lesson I was supposed to learn…"

Tony Stark interrupted the conversation. It was getting slightly awkward, with all the SHIELD agents chattering on whisper-tone, Clint and Natasha death-glaring at Loki, and the two gods having a highly incomprehensible conversation.

"What are you talking about? What do you mean with that 'he came free'?"

Thor turned to Tony.

"It's hard to explain. Could we perhaps speak with each other in a place with less…"

He gestured around a bit. Tony nodded.

"Meet in the conference room."

**(Author's Notes)**

**New chapter! I figured that Loki wouldn't have too much trouble escaping the holding cell and everything, but might choose not to do so at first because he wants to be sure Lori is safe first. Also, Lori got sedated because they suspected she might be a magic user and therefor stronger than her age suggests. Hope that answers some of the questions you got. **

**Also... the next part will feature group dialogue, and Emotional!Loki (but not emotion of the crying type, I can tell you that), and I hope you'll all review so I can update soon! **

**Anyway... REVIEW! Give Loki and Lori some support! The more reviews, the faster the update!**

**Cookies for: lilirox187, srgthamy, A Contradiction, TheSillyKitten, Cinderfire16, Rubi Yuki, Tiryn, AvengersGirl-LokisSpy, Lokitty, Ryle Culler and no-My Name's Anonymous, I love you ALL!**


	14. Chapter 14

A little later they were all sitting in the conference room. Loki had carried Lori with him and carefully placed her on a sofa there, covering her with his cape. Then he had turned to the whole Avengers team and his adoptive brother.

"Don't look at me. If you want information, ask him. I know nothing."

"Fine, Manuel."

Tony deadpanned. Thor, who had placed his hammer on the table and looked surprisingly serious, said.

"The Allfather decided Loki was to learn respect for the mortals of Midgard."

"Easier said than done I can imagine."

Thor sighed.

"My mother would be better at explaining this; magic is not my forte." He gestured aimlessly at Loki. "All living creatures have a life thread. The Norns measure the life thread of every living creature in all of the Nine Realms, cut it at the right length. Our ancient stories say the destiny of the Realms is imbedded in a tapestry woven of all these life threads together. The threads that lie close together in the weaving are similar. The people to which they belong will encounter similar events, go through similar trouble, and even share similar features in character and looks."

Tony frowned.

"Fine Point Break, thanks for the little mythology class. But what's that have to do with Loki and Mystery Girl over there?"

"Father magically entangled Loki's thread with the closest thread of a human mortal he could find. Loki's body would be kept safe in a different dimension, and his mind would share the physical body of this mortal. He believed that if Loki would see how similar a mortal could be to himself, he might start to respect the Midgardians better. The magic was such that he could only be released if he lost his disrespect."

The Avengers are quite stunned. Finally Steve remarked.

"So… That girl… She had Loki in her head?"

The mentioned god of mischief coughed.

"I tend to dislike it when people talk about me as if I'm not there. And yes. I have spent about two months in Lori's body."

Bruce asked.

"But what did you gain by cutting off that other girl's hair? I suspect it was you, somehow repressing the host mind…"

Loki frowned angrily.

"I simply helped her to extract her revenge on the mortals that had humiliated her. She supplied the materials and I supplied the magic. It was a consensual activity, a joint venture so to say."

Thor smiled.

"The Norns are mighty indeed… Many of the court feared that father's actions would disturb the fates of those involved… But it seems that even this was destined to occur."

Everyone raised eyebrows at Thor's unusual demeanour. The thunder god didn't really act as his usual, boisterous self…

"Well, no matter how weird this whole thing sounds, it's Loki, who is a horn-bearing psychopath space Viking, so I tend to believe it. That doesn't explain why the hell he is out and about!"

Thor shook his head.

"I don't understand it either. If I didn't have such faith in the magic of the Norns I would say this is one of my brother's tricks…"

"It is no trick."

Thor looked at Loki with big eyes.

"Will you then explain me brother, what has this mortal female done to you that centuries of our father's upbringing couldn't?"

Loki scowled.

"He's not my father. And upbringing? Do you call what he did upbringing?"

"He was never unfair in his judgement."

"And if I needed more proof of what a stupid oaf you are, there you have it. Odin never let a chance go to humiliate me to his heart's delight, Thor. There was hardly something fair about that."

Thor frowned as well now. He boomed.

"I will not allow you to insult the Allfather over imagined slights, brother!"

"Call it imagined slights if you wish. I can tell you there was nothing imagined about having my mouth sewn shut. Those months without food were definitely not imagined either. Or am I mistaken? Were all the times Odin let your friends beat me up so I would grow character simply perks of a sick mind? Was that time with the fucking snake venom in my eyes nothing but a nightmare?"

Loki was pale but his eyes burned with incredible hatred.

"You never cared when I was 'put to justice', to quote your precious Allfather. You call yourself my brother but you sure never acted like one!"

Thor didn't know what to say, and the other Avengers were also slightly taken aback by this sudden display of 'sentiment' from Loki. The god himself didn't seem to mind. He growled at Thor.

"For years and years and years I have believed it was fair, Thor. For centuries I believed I deserved every cruel and unusual punishment Odin invented for me. I would have done anything to gain his respect!"

"Brother, please…"

It was clear that Thor was uncomfortable with Loki having some kind of emotional outburst in the company of the totally dumbstruck Avengers. Realizing that made Loki even angrier.

"Let them fucking hear it! I don't care anymore! Let your band of merry little heroes listen to it, so they know the truth!"

He clenched his fists, and his voice was strained but calm when he spoke again.

"I am done with it. I am done with trying to gain his respect. He doesn't deserve it."

"Brother… I don't know what has happened to you. How can the spell have freed you when you carry so much anger within you!?"

Loki eyed his brother, suddenly very calm.

"I do not look down on the mortals anymore. I do not wish to elaborate, but know that they have won my respect, as a species. The Norns wouldn't have let me go free if I were lying now."

Thor looked at his friends and nodded.

"It's true."

Then he turned back to Loki.

"But… I still don't understand…"

"Sometimes one must see things through other eyes to gain insight."

They were all silent as Loki softly caressed Lori's fuddled red curls. The girl was waking up from her sedation, softly murmuring things and shifting under Loki's cape. It drew a smile from Loki's lips, a smile Thor hadn't seen in a long, long time.

"Wake up my little poison-tongue…"

The nickname also caused some surprise, even though the Avengers believed they had reached the top of their Loki-Induced Perplexity Scale. Loki glared at the Avengers.

"Could you at least give us a little privacy?"

Thor sighed.

"We can't leave you without…"

"Fine you big oaf, you can stay, hope that satisfies your need to guard me. But the rest has to go, or do you want to give the girl a heart attack when she wakes up?"

Strangely subdued the Avengers made their way out of the room. As soon as the door closed Loki turned to Lori. The girl slowly opened her eyes, looking dazed and sleepy. Loki continued to pat her curls, and finally there was a spark of recognition in her eyes.

"L-Loki…?"

"I'm here. How do you feel?"

Lori pinched her eyes but she couldn't seem to focus.

"W-Weird… w-where are we?"

"In the tower of the Avengers."

"Oh… What?!"

Lori blinked a few times in confusion and tried to get up. She swayed, clearly not entirely balanced out yet.

"Watch out… They sedated you, I'm afraid you may experience some side effects."

Lori shook her head, trying to get her hazy mind back into action.

"It-It's okay…"

Loki smiled. He had always been such a reserved person, so private with every emotion… But it felt good to let it all out. Of course, no chance that the god of lies could ever be an open book in daily life, but for now he just didn't have the energy to hide his feelings. They would just have to endure it for a while.

_(Pagebreak)_

Outside, the Avengers were following everything on screen thanks to JARVIS.

"I don't believe this. I bet he's playing a trick on us."

"I… I believe him."

Clint turned to Natasha.

"What?"

"I can see when someone lies. He wasn't."

"Are you forgetting he is the fucking God of Lies?"

Natasha raised an eyebrow at her partner and gave him a very dangerous "dare me" stare.

"Do you doubt my abilities, Hawkeye?"

"Err…"

Tony saved the situation by pondering out loud;

"Do you think he fucks her?"

Everyone turned at the engineer with either raised eyebrows (Natasha, Clint and Bruce) or unhidden disgust (Steve).

"No offence, but… I don't think Loki swings that way…"

"Huh? You mean, the way of curvy redheads, or the way of females in general? I definitely have to ask Thor…"

"Warn me, because I do not want to be in the same room then. It would do no good for my temper..."

"I don't want to be outside that day; it's gonna be bad weather for sure…"

"Guys, she's seventeen for god's sake, and he's an alien! Could you not be disgusting for a moment?"

"Ah come on Capsicle, being a little more open-minded won't hurt… when was the last time you saw any action, by the way?"

The conversation was quickly deteriorating into quarrelling and innuendos… Inside, Thor watched how his adoptive brother helped the young mortal female to sit up, his movements caring and attentive. He has never seen his brother show such sentiment to a mortal… even most of the Asgardians never got to see it. Loki was a master in concealing his feelings. He could be most charming to a person he hated and… most disagreeable to a person he didn't dislike, if it served his purposes. But for a select few he had taken his masks off…

Thor remembered that once he was subject to that happy smile and caring gestures as well, and the memory stung. What had happened between them? Was it true, that the punishments of Odin had done more bad than good in Loki? Had he been a fool for not objecting to them?

"You're going to hurt your head like that."

Thor looked up, seeing the sarcastic look of his brother.

"Huh?"

"Thinking. You might get a brain cramp."

For a moment Thor was silent, and Loki knew it was the time needed to process the remark. He grinned as Thor's brow furrowed.

"Very funny."

"I thought so too."

There was an uncomfortable, highly unpleasant silence between them, while Lori shook off the final bits of the sedation. Finally, she looked clear out of her eyes, at long last aware of her surroundings again. She stared at Thor.

"Loki… who is…" Then she noticed the hammer on the table. "Oh. You're that oaf."

Thor felt like growling, but he knew that would only confirm the judgement.

"I am Thor of Asgard, the God of Thunder… Loki's brother."

Lori nodded.

"As I said."

Thor didn't really agree, but wasn't given much of a choice. Lori looked very seriously at him, her green eyes reminding him very much of Loki. The Norns were powerful indeed…

"You know Thor… I think you and Loki really need to have a chat. Just the two of you."

Loki objected.

"I do not trust the others not to harm you."

Lori shook her head.

"It'll be fine. This is more important than guarding me at the moment…"

With that she gave Loki a hug and left the room, to face the Avengers.

**(Author's Notes)**

**And the secret is REVEALED! I hope you don't think it's too lame. Of course all the similarities couldn't just be random... Also, Loki's insight in Odin's assholery was not an intended effect of the "punishment". The punishment seems lenient yes, but imagine that Loki never "bettered" his behavior no matter how often Odin punished him, so the Allfather sort of expected him to be trapped for the rest of Lori's life. **

**Lori's acting pretty strong and sure of herself, but that's just false bravery and the remnants of those drugs. Don't worry about sudden character changes ;)**

**Please, please, please, please PLEASE REVIEW! This story lives on its reviews! The more the better! I love all my reviewers so much...**

**Cupcakes (for a change xD) for: no-MY name's Anonymous, srgthamy, Tiryn, RumbleRoar14, GabbyTheAngel, TheSillyKitten, AvengersGirl-LokisSpy, lilirox187, and one Guest. **


	15. Chapter 15

Lori was confused, and in shock, but for some reason the remnants of the sedative did seem to help against that. She acted braver than she felt, that was for sure. For someone who had been kidnapped and sedated, and who had only just woken up in an unknown place she found herself acting rather strong. That strength seemed to fade the moment she closed the conference room's door behind her and realized she now stood face-to-face with the famous Avengers, Loki's arch foes if she were to believe the Internet. They all stared at her as if she were a very rare animal in the zoo.

"Err… Hi. W-We haven't met?"

"I think we have met."

The cold voice of the redheaded woman indeed sounded familiar. Lori remembered and frowned.

"You were the one who shot me."

"Yes. And I think you and I need to have a little chat. Girl-talk. Ginger to ginger."

Lori slicked. There was something about the woman that seemed to breathe danger… The woman gestured her to follow. She walked past the others, who were all still staring in complete silence. Bunch of creeps… And that was in charge of their planetary defence. Tsss… She was taken to an empty living room. Lori suspected since this was obviously someone's house and not a prison, they had no interrogation rooms. She had no doubt however that an interrogation was what she would get… They both sat down, and the woman gave Lori a piercing stare.

"Lori Lauritsen."

"Err… Yes? And you are?"

"Natasha Romanoff. I am rather curious as to how you and Loki got acquainted…"

Lori decided, interrogation or not, there was no reason to cower. If she could handle Loki, she could handle anyone. She shrugged.

"I don't really know, actually. One day he just was there when I woke up. He pulled my hair, if I remember correctly."

"So… you could see him?"

"Only in the mirror. He was really living in my head… The first time I saw him I totally freaked out, I mean, you don't find out you share your reflection with a huge creepy guy every day, right?"

"But… he was nice to you?"

Lori laughed.

"Nice? A royal asshole, you mean! If you had asked me back then what person I hated most in the entire universe, Loki Laufeyson would have been on top of my list!"

Natasha couldn't help but have the corner of her mouth tremble a bit into the likes of a smile.

"Well, I can say he definitely is on the top of many people's hate-list…"

Lori suddenly remembered something.

"You know, he speaks rather highly of you. Not that he spoke often of you, but… well, we got into a bit of a situation, and I don't recall how exactly we got to it, but he said he once knew a mortal female with red hair who had a poisonous tongue and proved a worthy opponent in battle. Coming from Loki, that is like… a huge compliment."

Natasha frowned.

"That's not exactly the impression I got the last time we fought him…"

Again, Lori shrugged.

"Loki can be a mean bastard. Doesn't mean he means every word. He is the God of Lies after all, and that doesn't only include flattery."

"Then I do not understand how you trust him. How do you know he is not tricking you? I understand it may indeed be flattering to a young girl like yourself but…"

Lori flushed.

"Don't say it like that! You make it sound like I'm some dumb little teenage girl who fell in LOVE with a creepy alien!"

Natasha's look told her enough. Lori frowned and explained.

" For one, I am not in love with Loki. I do think I love him though. But more like a brother or a very dear friend. Believe me, if you share a head with someone you get to see so much of each other there is simply no ground for falling in love. Not to mention that he's like a million years old so that would make him a total paedophile."

Natasha watched Lori's body language very intently, looking for something, a hint of a lie, an unnatural movement that could indicate mind control… But she found none. Lori continued.

"And that's also the reason I trust him. When he was in my head he couldn't hide his shit from me. Well, it was mutual, and I got it in my face quite a few times before I realized I could read him as much as he could read me, but… I trust him."

"And he has never… harmed you?"

Lori bit her lip.

"Well… there was that one time he broke my hand…"

Natasha frowned a bit, indicating her disapproval.

"And you do not hold it against him?"

She was starting to wonder if perhaps Loki's presence in the girl's head had damaged her somehow… Lori sighed.

"I sure held it against him, but in retrospect… I kind of deserved it. I was starving myself and Loki was… Let's say he underestimated his own strength. He wanted to make a point but instead he sort of punched my hand through a wall. Now I don't know about frost giant people, but they sure must have bones of steel to withstand that…"

Natasha blinked.

"You know of…"

"His heritage? Yeah. It's not for me to tell more about that though. I know you're probably a spy and stuff and trained to squeeze information from me, but please don't ask after Loki's personal things. I trust him, but that trust is mutual and I don't want to break it."

Natasha was slightly astonished by the way this young girl seemed to be not intimidated by her. Eventually she decided to ask.

"Do I intimidate you?"

"Sure. You have that look of 'I can pull a knife so fast you won't know it 'till you're dead', and that's pretty intimidating. But even intimidating stuff doesn't really help to make me shut up, ask Loki if you don't believe me."

"I believe you."

"Thanks."

"I would like to know though, what made you like Loki, if he was on top of your hate list, as you described it?"

"It's a bit inconvenient to continue hating each other if you're living so close together. So we made a truce. Sort of. And… I think it's just what happens when two people are stuck with each other. When you have no one else, you can't help but start to like each other."

Natasha thought about Clint and herself. They weren't the most compatible of characters, psychologically, but… they had been stuck with each other for so long that they indeed had started to love each other. At least, she thought it was love. If there were anyone in the world she might love it would be Clint. Lori noticed her silence.

"I know you probably think he's evil incarnate or something, but… he's not that bad. Please don't hurt him."

Natasha smiled bitterly. There would indeed be people who considered Loki the root of all evil… but that was only because they had never witnessed the things she had. Yes, she didn't trust the guy, and she liked him even less, but…

"If he does not engage us, we will not."

Lori grinned.

"Depending on what you call 'engaging'… he might. He's got a bit of a knack for bringing himself in trouble."

For some reason Natasha didn't doubt that… She watched Lori. During the conversation the girl had relaxed, not the usual effect she had on people during interrogation. But then, this didn't feel like an interrogation. Maybe she could even get some extra information from her like this…

"What kind of trouble?"

Lori raised her eyebrows and looked at Natasha.

"Really, I already said that you don't have to ask after Loki's personal stuff because I'm not going to tell you."

"Does the hair-cutting incident fall under those trouble?"

Lori laughed.

"Oh no. That was just revenge, and it went rather well I must say…" Then she thoughtfully added. "Or not, given the fact I got kidnapped and all that shit."

"Revenge?"

Lori blushed a bit.

"It started as a ploy to stop me from starving myself. Now I think about it, most of the things with Loki started as ploys to keep me from starving myself… Anyway, in exchange for regular meals he would help me take revenge on my bullies."

Natasha slowly nodded. There was clearly a whole lot about Loki she didn't know about… Most of all that he apparently was capable of speaking the truth…

(Pagebreak)

Thor and Loki sat in silence for a while. Then Thor opened his mouth, and immediately Loki held his hand up.

"No. Whatever it is, I don't want to hear it."

So Thor closed his mouth again, and they sat in silence a little longer. The silence lasted so long that eventually it lost its edge. Thor's face, usually graced by a smile, now looked tired. Loki looked at his feet when he said.

"Do you remember that time we went on a hunt together, to slay the three-headed wyvern that threatened travellers?"

His voice was soft, not accusing or angry. Thor remembered that particular hunt very well. They had travelled for days before they finally encountered the wyvern… and in the first fight it had turned out to be far too fast for even his skills as a warrior. They were only a few hundred years after all, at that time, not as proficient in combat as they would be now. Loki had come up with a plan involving a trap with bilgesnipe meat and magically suspended rocks, and they had caught and immobilized the wyvern with it, after which Thor had gracefully slain it. For Thor it was a fond memory, he recalled it was from the time he and Loki had still been friends. Loki didn't look as if it was a fond memory to him too though. Thor dared to remark.

"Yes. It was a wonderful hunt, don't you agree?"

"Do you recall the berries?"

"Berries?"

Then Thor remembered that as well. On their travels they had found strange bushes carrying thick, purple berries that looked delicious. He had immediately wanted to eat them, but Loki had stopped him, saying he could feel they were magical and might be dangerous. He had taken a few of them with him for further research. Thor bit his lip when he recalled that a few days after the hunt Odin himself had stumbled on the berries, and had immediately ordered for Loki to receive a lashing of the nine-tailed cat for practicing black magic. It turned out the berries were only used in a spell that summons evil spirits to extract revenge on someone…

"I…"

"That hunt, Thor. Story of my life."

"I don't understand…"

"We worked together to slay the beast… Yet you took all the credit. Worse, your friends spread the rumour I hadn't dared to fight the wyvern, and soon the whole court called me a coward. I was jealous of you yes, but I took it gracefully, I believe. Yet when Odin found those berries –from which I had saved you- he immediately believed I had gathered them with the sole purpose of extracting a horrifying revenge on you. He told me, you know. Every time the whip came down on my back he made me repeat this sentence: "I will not begrudge another's glory". 55 times."

Thor paled a bit, hearing that.

"You never told me!"

Loki shakes his head.

"By then I already knew you would either not believe me or discard it as my so-manieth 'imagined slight'. After all, I am the Trickster God, the God of Lies. I am incapable of speaking truth and everything I say or do is automatically with the worst possible intention. Or so the people of Asgard believe."

Loki's green eyes burned with a conviction Thor hadn't seen in a long while. Most of the time it promised nothing good…

"I admired you, you know. I didn't care that you would always be greater than me, I had already accepted that and I loved you like a little brother is supposed to. It wasn't you personally who slighted me. But at the same time, Thor… it was."

Loki's voice was sad. Thor didn't know what to say, because everything about it, even the little twinge inside himself that told him not to trust Loki, confirmed the other god's story.

"You never defended me in front of your friends or Odin. Not once you spoke well of me in public. When people spoke badly of me you let them and simply basked in all the positive attention they gave you. You didn't care, Thor. That is what made me hate you. You claim to love me but all you ever did was use me to look better yourself. I was simply the negative end of the comparison to you."

Now it was Thor who looked at his shoes. Loki's words hurt, mostly because he could see how they were true.

"I have indeed slighted you."

"You have."

"I am sorry, brother…"

Loki shrugged and gave Thor a piercing stare. Very calmly he said.

"Sorry doesn't cut it. It never will."

"I wish things had been different between us."

"So do I."

It sounded genuinely depressed, but at the same time Loki's look didn't lose a bit of its hardness. Thor tried his best to keep his sadness out of his expression, but failed miserably. Loki didn't seem to care.

"I will always see you as my brother, and I believe on some level I do love you. I have tried to discard that sentiment but it comes back at me time after time like one of those Midgardian boomerangs. I guess a couple centuries of indoctrination does that to a person."

It saddened the thunder god even further to realize that Loki thought of their childhood friendship as indoctrination… Loki continued.

"But for the same reason I don't think we will ever be friends again. Some things are just… not solvable with apologies and talking, and living in someone's shadow for years is one of those things. I… For far too long I have considered myself nothing more than an extension to your glory. It will do neither of us any good if I continue to hang around in your surroundings."

"I could be different. I could be a better brother."

Loki nodded slowly.

"I hope you will be. Not just a better brother, a better person as well. Just… you won't have me to practice on. There is nothing left for me in Asgard."

"What do you intend to do then? Stay here on Midgard, among your enemies?"

"The universe stretches itself out far beyond the nine realms. I'll find a place."

"Do you think you will ever forgive me?"

Thor said, almost inaudible. It made Loki sigh.

"I forgive you, Thor. Never thought I would, but as things have turned out I was wrong about a lot more than just that. It is not out of anger that I don't wish to be around you, not anymore. I just… Need time, and some space for my own."

It was odd. The madness that had filled his brother's eyes was gone, that disturbed glint he had seen for the first time during the invasion had faded, and the way Loki spoke was a testimony of his regained sanity. But all the same Thor felt his eyes burn in a way most unbecoming of an Asgardian warrior. His brother would never come home again…

**(Author's Notes)**

**Damn! Writing Natasha is really hard... I know she's all sly and stuff, and if she put herself truly to it she could extract any information from Lori, but for two reasons she doesn't: A) people tend to underestimate Lori based on how she looks, and B) On request of one of my reviewers I'm going to make her like Lori, a bit. Just a teeny tiny bit though.**

**And yeah, no huge reconciliation scene for Thor and Loki. I know it's a classic in this fandom, but for some reason I don't think it would work here. Loki has gained a lot of insight in himself, but he needs to do some self-discovery first. You know, hitting the road trying to find himself and the likes. Thor has always been a bit too dominant a presence in Loki's life... **

**PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! **

**I am eternally grateful for every single one of my reviewers. Each time I see a review it makes me happy, because someone cared enough to let me know they read my story. **

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	16. Chapter 16

"Are they yelling already?"

"Nope. No thunder either."

"Hey guys I brought popcorn!" Clint paused. "Why is the audio off?"

"Ever heard of privacy?"

"He's an enemy of the state. He deserves no privacy."

"Hand me that popcorn and shut your trap."

The Avengers, minus Natasha, were watching the proceedings in the conference room on one of Tony's many TV screens. They were all anxiously waiting for the moment Loki would change Thor into a mouse, or Thor would punch his adoptive brother through a wall. So far no such luck: watching had been so boring that Tony had started to do a voiceover filled with improper proposals, much to Steve's horror.

In the living room, Natasha had found out a whole lot about Lori and her life and her family, but nothing about Loki. Every time she even tried to prod at the subject Lori had clapped shut like an oyster.

"Why do you want to know more about Loki so badly anyway?"

"Maybe I'm interested?"

"Only because you'll have something to hurt him with next time."

Natasha was losing her patience a bit. She didn't dislike Lori, and she realized there had to be more to Loki's story than she had first thought, but that didn't take away the fact that Loki had tried to conquer the planet and they needed every bit of information they could get to help build their defences.

"You are technically helping a wanted terrorist. Not just A wanted terrorist, but THE number one enemy of the state. I understand you may have gotten to like him, but you are endangering your own race and planet by not disclosing his secrets. "

"No I'm not."

Lori's answer was definite.

"He doesn't want to rule us humans any longer."

"Then what about Asgard, or any other world he might lay eyes on? It's not because he lost his taste for ruling earth that he's suddenly a changed man, Lori!"

"I keep my promises. I know I am just "suspect number uncountable" to you, just another one to interrogate, but I am a person too and so is Loki. If you value "The State", whatever that may be, over personal relationships, you could never understand."

That… hurt. Natasha's face didn't show it, her eyes didn't show it, and Loki would never know, but that really hurt. The years spent under custody of the Red Room, where she had been trained to love only the State and never make any ties of personal nature, had left their traces on her… In Lori's words had voiced the doubts that coursed through her mind at night. That she could not love or care. That her word wasn't worth anything. That no matter what she did she would always be in debt, a ledger dripping red…

Lori didn't know what her words had caused, but Natasha decided that perhaps Loki had chosen the girl's nickname for a reason. A little poison-tongue indeed…

"Fine. JARVIS will show you a room. We'll continue this conversation on a later time."

"Can I sleep in the same room as Loki?"

"He will be put in a cell. Unless you want to…

"Yes. I want to."

"I'll see what can be done."

Natasha left, trying to get her mind off the young girl that had unknowingly made her doubt herself... again. As if she would her share a cell with Loki... The spy shook her head to herself.

_(Pagebreak)_

Lori couldn't believe what she had done. She had actually spoken up to someone who wasn't Loki! Natasha Romanoff was a creepy woman, and her looks had given Lori the chills, but she had simply repeated Loki's words in her head. _"You talk back at me, but let some mortal quim insult you…"_ She had tried her best not to quiver under Natasha's scrutiny. Her little outburst of bravery however was fleeting, and left on her own on the sofa after Natasha had left she started to doubt things. Had she said too much? Maybe they would start torturing her now… Lori wasn't sure she would be able to keep Loki's secrets if they would; she was incredibly squeamish when it came to pain.

She hoped Loki was okay. They might not torture her, but him… Her heart clenched at the thought. At the moment, thinking of Loki was her only solid ground. She didn't even dare to think of her father, and the absolute worry he was probably in, or what she was going to do next, because the uncertainty of it all made her want to cry. She couldn't cry now, that redheaded spy would probably make use of the weakness… Yet still silent tears dripped over her face. With her knees to her chest she whispered.

"I miss you Loki… Please be okay…"

_(Pagebreak)_

"How's it going here?"

"I think he made Thor cry."

"What? I don't believe you."

"See for yourself!"

Tony pointed at the screen and zoomed in on Thor. Indeed, there were tears glistering in his eyes.

"Wow. Loki clearly hasn't lost his edge… Why are we letting him do this again?"

"Thor trusts him."

"Thor is no reference for trust. He is like, the most gullible person I've ever met."

"Loki doesn't seem to look so happy with it all at the moment…"

Steve remarked. It was true, Loki looked sad as well. Not crying, or overly emotional, but something in his face looked incredibly sad…

_(Pagebreak)_

Later, Loki was back in his glass prison cell. Thor had insisted they give him a real room, but they wouldn't budge. He felt his thoughts go to Lori. Would her father be worried? If Thor was any reference –which strangely enough he was, Loki still wasn't used to that revelation- he would. And where was she now? If those Avengers dared to hurt her, physically or emotionally, he would curse them into the next day without a single hesitation. Respect for mortals or not, no one touched those dear to him. And yes, Lori was dear to him. He had gone too long without caring for or about someone, beside himself, and it felt strangely good to have someone he felt protective over. He was always the one Thor had to protect… Not that he did, but every time they went out together he heard Frigga say "Thor, take care for your little brother". As if it wasn't always the other way round. Loki scoffed at the memory.

He still wore that expression when the doors opened and Tony Stark entered.

"Hi there Reindeer Games."

Loki raised his eyebrows, but didn't say anything.

"You know, they all think you're plotting something. Hell, I think you're plotting something. So… care to say what?"

"It is said that you are a genius among mortals. If that is the best ploy for information your brilliant mind can come up with, I feel very sorry for your species."

"It's not a ploy, it's a question. Not everything is a ploy Loki, don't be such a conspiracy theorist."

"Who started questioning my honesty first?"

"You're the God of Lies, I am completely entitled to question your honesty."

That made Loki sigh. He knew his nature made trusting him hard, but he preferred not having it thrown in the face like that.

"I have no plan whatsoever, except for getting out of here and never coming back. Not to this place, not to this planet, not to Asgard."

"Even I can tell that's a lie and according to Natasha I'm dense as a brick when it comes to lies."

Loki had to admit it was indeed a lie. He wanted to get away yes, but he would come back for Lori. If only to visit her a last time. He shrugged. The rawness of his emotions had dissipated a bit, but he supposed they still lay too close to the surface for successful lying.

"Perhaps it is. I have grown rather fond of the young female mortal. Perhaps I would make an exception to visit her."

"Yeah, about that." Tony made a face. "You know she's technically underage, right? I don't know what they say about that in Asgard, but err…"

Loki frowned and glared at Tony.

"I do not pursue dishonourable relationships with Lori. She is my friend, not my lover."

"And how can you tell she thinks the same way about you? She's a teenage girl, you know… and teenage girls… well, they tend to fall in love with everything even remotely male that treats them nicely. I can know, it happens to me all the time!"

Loki scoffed.

"They may fall in love with your money and your status, mortal… but I sincerely doubt you have to swap away the candidates because of your charming personality. Without your suit and your money you're nothing but a first-class bastard."

Tony rolled his eyes.

"Girls tend to like that, you know! But it's besides the question. How do you know she's not head over heels for you?"

"I happen to have spent a couple of months in her mind. I think I would have noticed, thank you."

Tony sat down.

"You're a war criminal. She's an underage fatty. I mean, seriously? Those Norns must either be completely blind, or you are secretly a chubby teenage girl inside. I mean, you look nothing alike!"

"Leave it to you to insult both my friend and the most important seers of the Nine Realms in the same sentence…"

Loki was magically filing his nails. Inside he boiled because of the mindless comment on Lori's weight, but he managed not to show it too much. Tony looked annoyed that he didn't manage to annoy Loki. He cocked his head to the side and stared at Loki.

"What is it with you and that girl?"

"It would be too hard to explain to someone who has clearly never had a real friend. I bet all your so-called friends try to stab you in the back whenever they have the chance."

Loki knew he had hit home when Tony's smirk became a bit more forced and his eyes went cold and angry. He grinned and shrugged.

"Turns out I was right…"

"You don't know anything about me."

"Unfortunately I do. Your 'friend' Agent Barton divulged quite a bit about you to me…"

"No. You're lying."

"I'm not, but I'll admit that was an educated guess. Being an asshole never pays of, no matter where you come from."

"As if you have any right of speech there."

"As I said, it would be too complicated to explain to you. Please go bother someone else."

Loki turned his back on Tony, grinning because he knew the engineer was glaring daggers at him. When he heard the door close his grin disappeared. Stark was easy to see through, much easier than the redheaded spy. He couldn't help but wonder who had betrayed Stark, and how, and why. It were questions he usually never asked about his enemies… but for some reason it became harder and harder to look at them as nothing but that. In his mind they were becoming people. The thought made him frown.

"I was right. The human girl has made me weak…"

Loki didn't know what to think of it. He wished Lori were there to talk about it with her. For some reason he was convinced just talking to her would make him feel better.

**(Author's Notes)**

**So, here I am again! Contrary to popular belief this story is NOT abandoned, I have just been through a bit of a rough period of little sleep, lots of trouble and an absolute writer's block. But I'm back now! I really hope you'll review as you have done so faithfully the previous chapters... I promise I won't let you down again, dear readers!**

**So, Lori has not gone through extreme character change, she just experienced a bit of bizarre bravery. Shock can do that to people! But don't worry, it's temporarily. By the way, DID YOU SEE WHAT I DID THERE? *ehehehe* **

**Thanks to my dearest reviewers, homemade chocolate chip cookies for all of you, and a slice of pie to make up for the long wait! **

**no-MY name's Anonymous, Kurtgleelove, Lokitty, lilirox187, GabbyTheAngel, A Contradiction, AvengersGirl-LokisSpy, Lywick, Rubi Yuki and Tiryn, you are all AMAZING! *hands tasty munchies described above xD***


	17. Chapter 17

"Err… Guys…"

Dutiful as ever, Steve was the only one watching the monitors to check what Loki was doing, when he noticed something strange was happening in the glass cell.

"Guys, you should really look at this…"

Tony and Clint turned, slightly annoyed, and their eyes widened.

"What the fuck is he doing there?"

Loki was seemingly writing something in the air. The weird thing was that glowing green traces were left where his finger had passed. From the viewpoint of that particular camera they couldn't read what was written, but suddenly Loki just disappeared, teleporting out of the cell again.

"JARVIS, what did he do?!"

Tony panicked. The AI turned the camera so that they could read the message.

**"This is not an escape attempt. BRB. Just got to do something. Loki."**

"I don't believe it. JARVIS, where is that bastard?"

_"He's in the bathroom on the same floor as the cell, Sir."_

"And he is doing what?"

_"I believe he is on the toilet, Sir."_

That made Tony shut up and the others all chuckled.

"Apparently even gods need to use the loo from time to time…"

"I want to go check on him."

"Clint, you will do no such thing!"

"But…"

"Go there and I tell everyone you wanted to have steaming hot toilet stall sex with him."

Natasha didn't know why she stopped Clint from invading the toilet armed with a cell phone to gather blackmail material, but for some reason she did. She would have sworn Clint pouted for a second before he rolled his eyes and let it go.

"JARVIS will warn us if Reindeer Games decides to leave the building or break my stuff, right?"

_"Yes, Sir."_

Tony grinned.

"That's my boy."

The other Avengers now all rolled their eyes. Tony's relationship with his AI was even weirder than the toilet habits of certain Norse Gods.

_(Pagebreak)_

Lori was still silently crying with her knees to her chest when she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. She almost screamed, but that changed into a squeak of happiness when she saw the mystery hand belonged to Loki.

"Loki!"

The god grinned.

"Hello little mortal…"

Lori didn't even comment on the nickname, she just flung herself in his arms.

"I missed you! I thought they were going to torture you or something and I thought I was never going to see you again and then that creepy spy woman was trying to make me talk about you and how did you ever get out I thought they…"

The flood of words only stopped when Loki held his hand over Lori's mouth. He had forgotten how much that girl could talk…

"It takes more than a bit of Plexiglas and expensive machinery to keep me confined. It was hardly an effort to get out."

Lori smiled.

"Of course it was. You're awesome."

"Of course I am, little mortal…"

"Puny, but awesome."

"Hey!"

Lori laughed again, her tears all forgotten. Loki felt better too…

"I thought I owed you an explanation. After all I have brought you in trouble… again."

Lori shrugged.

"It was less bad than getting mauled by those overly muscled idiots. Speaking of which, how did it go with your brother?"

Now it was Loki who shrugged. Yet, there was something dejected in the movement and Lori knew.

"You fought, didn't you?"

"Not really. I told him the truth, he cried, we said goodbye. It was nothing more elaborate."

"You… said goodbye?"

"I'm not going back to Asgard. There are ways to travel the universe without the Bifrost, pathways that cross even this forlorn little world. I don't have to go there ever again."

Lori looked a bit sceptically.

"And what about closure?"

"Closure?"

"Yeah, I mean, you told your brother "the truth", but… what about your father, and the rest of your family?"

"They're not my family."

Lori shook her head.

"They are the only family you've ever had and you know it."

Loki frowned at Lori.

"Don't tell me what I need to do. You know nothing of them."

"I know enough to think it will do you good to throw the truth in your adoptive dad's face. If you don't it'll follow you for the rest of your days. And mind you, that's a lot of days in your case."

Loki just made a derisive noise, unwilling to admit there was truth in Lori's words.

"I didn't come here to be spelled a lesson, mortal."

"Wasn't trying to. I just hope you'll give that evil overlord of Asshole Garden what he deserves. You know, royal ass-kicking, Loki style."

The indignant expression on Lori's face made Loki smile despite everything.

"Maybe I will. Now, you have missed Thor's horrendously lacking explanation of what happened to you and me, therefor I have the honour to explain it once more. If you want to know, that is."

Lori gave him the "Duh" look, and Loki started explaining. In opposite to Thor, magic was his forte, and he gave Lori a colourful story of the Norns, their magic, the Tapestry of Fate, and everything else even remotely related. She listened attentively and when Loki finally finished his story, she stared at him with open mouth.

"Wow. That's… so… wow. That's just really weird."

"It is rather logical, when you taken into account the amount of creatures in the universe. There will always be someone who is a lot like you, statistically."

"From magic to statistics…" Lori chuckled.

"Didn't one of your famous writers say that there are lies, damned lies and statistics? Since I am the God of Lies, that makes statistics my domain as well…"

Lori laughed, and Loki laughed as well.

"No, seriously. What do they call us then? Soul mates or something like that?"

Loki shook his head.

"Oh no, soul mates are souls that fill each other in perfectly. We are much too… alike for that, in soul terms. You could call it familiar souls, I guess. The magic of the Norns is sacred and well protected, I know far from as much of it as I would like to."

Loki admitting he didn't know everything? Lori smiled at that. She crawled a bit closer to him on the sofa. Sitting close to him she realized it would probably be the last time they were together like that… softly she remarked.

"This is really goodbye, isn't it?"

Loki didn't say anything, but his silence answered Lori's question. The girl sighed.

"I hate goodbyes. They're so final."

"They don't have to be. I have done my time, so I am a free man now and I can go where I want to. I might just visit you…"

"As if you would find the time for that when the whole universe is in front of you…"

Loki smiled a bit melancholically at her.

"Having the whole universe in front of you is not the most pleasant sight, Lori… It makes you feel smaller than anything, takes away the value and worth of everything including yourself. I would rather never face that sight again."

"So… you have seen that already?"

"Oh yes. But that's not important now. Besides, the universe has plenty of time while you don't. It's a matter of priorities."

Lori blushed violently.

"I'm a priority to you?"

Loki shook his head in disbelief.

"You're such a silly little mortal. You know I don't like a lot of people. That makes those I do like immediately more important as they are much rarer."

"If you make me blush any more my face might explode."

"We can't have that, can we?"

They both laughed, and the slightly tense atmosphere dissipated with their laughter. Lori wanted to ask about Thor, she could almost feel that there was more to be told, but she respected Loki's privacy and didn't prod. It wasn't really her business anymore now anyway…

_(Pagebreak)_

They talked a lot, mostly ridiculous jests they had exchanged since the first day they had been stuck together, but without a trace of bitterness in them. Loki almost didn't mind it so much anymore that Lori consequently called him Puny when he referred to her as "little mortal". When finally the Avengers became suspicious of Loki's apparent obstipation, asked the invisible voice where he was and entered the living room with their weapons drawn, he and Lori only looked at each other, knowing this was indeed goodbye. Not final, but still goodbye. Loki agreed to come with Thor to Asgard one last time, to let Odin know he had successfully completed his punishment and to gather his things… on one condition. He wanted to bring Lori home himself. The request caused a bit of a fuss among the Avengers, but Director Fury gave permission, knowing that Loki wouldn't harm Lori.

And so Lori experienced teleportation for the very first time. Loki had told her to hold her breath and close her eyes, albeit forgetting that human beings can't hold their breath that effortlessly. When they appeared in front of Lori's house, she loudly gasped for air and coughed like a chain smoker.

"I… N-n-(cough)-never…(cough) w-want t-t-to do… t-(cough)-t-that again!"

"I'm sorry."

Lori shook her head and concentrated on evening her breathing a bit. Then she smiled and hugged Loki, like she had done the first time they were supposed to say goodbye.

"I will miss you…" She looked up at him. "Promise me you will kick that Mr All-Father's ass. I will feel a lot better knowing that man gets it back."

Loki just smiled, and pulled her a bit closer in the hug. He didn't do hugs, usually, but he had been doing a lot he usually didn't do lately so he decided to humour the mortal female.

"Little poison-tongue, I will miss you too. Promise me you will eat regularly and not ever let anyone get away with insulting you, and then I'll see what I can do in the ass-kicking department."

"I promise."

Lori had just said that, when Thor landed in the middle of the road with a thunderous bang.

"Brother! We must leave!"

Loki bent to Lori and whispered.

"Is it any surprise that he got run over quite a few times already?"

"You'll have to tell me that story once…"

"I will. When I return I will tell you."

"I'm holding you to it!"

Lori watched how Thor took Loki's hand and yelled loudly at the sky. Suddenly a bright light surrounded them and a second later they were gone. If not for the impact crater Thor had left behind she could have thought she imagined it. Sighing deeply she walked back to her house. She tried her best not to think about the obvious, namely that Loki was really gone now, possibly on the other side of the universe even. He was literally worlds away. How was it possible she already missed him after five minutes?

**(Author's Notes)**

**At long last, a new chapter! I'm sorry guys that it took me so long... there was a skiing trip without internet first, and then exam results that totally took away my writing pleasure for a while, and so it came to take so long. I'm sorry, sorry, sorry! Please review... Your reviews give me inspiration, and I rearlly can use it atm...**

**Chocolate chip cookies (with those yummie melting chunks in them, hmmm) for Lokitty, Tiryn, TheSillyKitten, xLokiLover69x, no-MY name's Anonymous, AvengersGirl-LokisSpy, lilirox187, I love you guys! Please keep reviewing! **


	18. Chapter 18

Mr Lauritsen had become strangely careful around Lori, and it was showing a great deal. She wondered if perhaps Loki had put a spell on him. There always hung an awkward, silent tension between them; her father seemingly didn't dare to talk to her, and she didn't have anything to say to him. Finally her curiosity –and perhaps the wish to find another trace of Loki's presence- won it from her discomfort, and she manned up for the question.

"Dad. I… What the hell is going on with you?"

"Huh?"

"You've been acting weird for quite some time now. You don't talk to me, and you look at me as if I'm about to explode any moment. What did I do?"

"Nothing… Nothing at all, baby ca-I mean Lori."

That told Lori enough.

"Since when do you know I hate that nickname?"

"I…"

Mr Lauritsen looked uncomfortable.

"I think I've often been… very unthinking towards you, and in the things I said to and about you. Someone pointed that out to me."

Lori couldn't help but smile.

"Tall, black hair, green eyes, leather coat, totally ridiculous helmet?"

Mr Lauritsen got that fearful look in his eyes the moment Lori described Loki. Lori just smiled a little wider.

"He didn't curse you did he?"

"No… at least I think not…"

Mr Lauritsen sighed.

"I know I should be asking how you have gotten to know an alien would-be despot in the first place… but… he made sense. And I'm sorry for that, Lori. It's probably ridiculous and I had to convince myself for days that I hadn't dreamt it, but he made sense when he said I treated you wrongly."

Lori felt her heart warm up when she realized that Loki had defended her towards her father. Said father was looking extremely flushed and uncomfortable. She understood very well why, her father had never been too adept at expressing his emotions properly.

"I… I hope you can forgive me, Lori. I truly do."

Lori gave him a small smile.

"I'm your daughter, and I love you. I… I may not always like you though. Like, I don't think I can like you right away now just because you're sorry. It's… it's difficult. But I do love you."

It was quite the weighty speech, Lori thought to herself. Her father seemed both impressed and saddened.

"So… do you think there's a way I can make it right?"

"If you're really sorry, you won't treat me anymore as you have always done. And then I'll start to like you again."

Mr Lauritsen nodded.

"I think I can do that, yes."

_(Pagebreak)_

"Loki."

Loki didn't bow his head like Thor did. He just stared at the one-eyed man he had called father for so long, and the woman he could only think of as his mother in mind. Frigga's eyes were teary and she looked as if she wanted to run to Loki and embrace him… but Odin was stoic as always, unmoved by Loki's arrival.

"Loki Odinsson. The Norns have set you free from your punishment, it seems. Have you truly abandoned your wicked ways this time?"

The last name burned. The court would think it amazing that Odin still considered Loki to be his son… Loki knew better. It was an accusation, a way of stating how he didn't live up to expectations. He was never just Loki, always Loki Odinsson, second in line, second best in everything.

"My ways were never wicked if not for you, Allfather."

"Do you dare to insult me, here, in front of the court?! Has your punishment not taught you humility, as it should have?"

Loki scowled, not averting his gaze.

"It's not an insult if it's the truth… All-father. Or are you still convinced I am incapable of speaking truth?"

Odin stood up, obviously angered. Thor still stood next to Loki, gaze averted, not trying to stop his brother from digging his own grave. After all the talking they had done, Thor knew Loki needed to do this no matter the consequences.

"How have you cheated the Norns, Loki Odinsson? What lowly trick did you use this time?"

"I have used no tricks of any nature."

"If even the ancient magic of the Norns can teach you respect then there is no hope for you. This was your last chance, Loki Odinsson, your last chance to show you are worthy after all!"

The court started whispering, but Odin's look brought them to silence. Loki's eyes lit up with anger, yet his voice remained calm.

"So I am not worthy, Allfather? Yes, I may not be worthy of your praise. Does that make me entirely worthless as a person too?"

"The insolence! Hold your tongue, trickster, before you leave me no choice but to condemn you!"

"Funny. The last time I called someone insolent she was speaking the truth to me." Loki said. "So your punishment had to teach me about respect, didn't it? Well, it taught me about respect, enough for me to see that you don't deserve mine!"

Odin appeared to be furious now, but didn't say anything. Loki just continued.

"You mark me as one of your own… but I have never been one to you, have I? Even as I was a mere child you were convinced I was the root of all things evil, too damn prejudiced to look beyond your pitiful beliefs! Respect is earned, not given, and for centuries and centuries you have not earned mine. Yet I gave it to you! I admired you and believed you to be a shining example of everything I had to look up to!"

Loki was still looking calm, but his voice trembled when he continued.

"I believed you were right when you said I was not worthy of anything, and I tried my very best to be better, to gain your approval! I didn't know why you would punish me no matter what I did. I didn't know you punished not me but an image of what you believed me to be. That your prejudice went so far you couldn't even look unbiased at a child."

Odin didn't say anything, and Loki knew very well why. The elderly god had made sure no one of the court knew of Loki's true heritage, and revealing it now would cause a true uproar. At last the god got up.

"You are a mere child still then, since you never grew up to look past imagined slights from your youth! You are truly unworthy of the name bestowed upon you!"

Now Loki laughed coldly.

"I don't need to be worthy of that name anymore, all-father. You can be father of all things, but you were never mine. You may not renounce me as your son, but I renounce you as my father. Not worthy? I don't even want your name anymore."

"Then your fate is sealed. You are to be exe …"

Thor looked up now, and interrupted his father.

"Please father, don't execute him! He is still my brother despite everything!"

Loki looked at Thor and gave the god a small smile, which he returned. Odin seemed angry now.

"What has the liesmith done to you, to convince you of his tricks?"

"Nothing, father. But if you execute Loki, you will lose two sons in one day." He looked pleadingly at his father. "I love you, but I too will renounce you and your throne should you kill my brother."

Loki was at least as surprised as Odin, but he did a better job in not showing it. Odin sat down again, looking... frustrated. Frigga put a hand on his arm, whispered something. At last he said.

"Fine. You are lucky, Trickster, that your worthy sibling spoke up for you. Instead of facing execution, you will spend your life in prison."

Loki slowly shook his head.

"I completed my punishment, without use of tricks and magic. Consult the Norns if you want to be certain. According to the laws of Asgard I am free. I did as you asked me, and still you are not satisfied. Is it because now you have to deal with me again? Was your punishment nothing but a way to get me out of your hair?" He huffed. "I can spare you the trouble. I will leave Asgard, never to return again. There is nothing here for me."

Loki made a mocking bow to his adoptive father.

"Farewell, father of all but me. I am done with you."

And in front of all the court, Loki turned his back on the royal couple and calmly left the throne room.

When Loki arrived at the Bifrost gate, he found not only Heimdall waiting for him.

"Loki…"

Frigga stood there, her beautiful face wet with tears. Loki didn't know how she had gotten there so fast, but he supposed she had used the magic Odin despised so much in him.

"Mother."

"I am so, so sorry…"

"Don't be. You never hurt me like he did."

"I should have seen it. I should have stopped him and I didn't."

Loki looked at his feet.

"Perhaps. But I don't hold resentment towards you. I find that I can't. You will always be my mother."

"Oh Loki… I know that nothing can excuse what my husband has done, and I don't want you to look at this like I am trying to excuse him. But you should know… he lived through hundreds of years of war, and the prejudices you spoke of are a part of his character he will never be able to see past. If you leave now…"

"If I leave now, I might be able to go someplace where people can see me as a person instead of an archetypical frost giant who is up to nothing but evil tricks."

"Then I will never see you again."

Loki looked sad too now.

"I know. But we have time, perhaps that's all we have. I love you, mother. Despite everything I truly do. If the want and the need is there, we will meet again."

Frigga wrapped her arms around Loki and hugged him. Loki saw Heimdall averted his gaze to give them privacy, and he hugged her back.

"I'm so sorry."

"I'm sorry too, mother. Please tell Thor I'm sorry too."

With that he said goodbye. He gave a respectful nod towards Heimdall, and the man brought down his heavy sword, sending Loki off to somewhere outside the Nine Realms.

"See to it that he is safe, Heimdall."

"Of course, my Queen."

Frigga dried her tears and left the observatory. She had things to discuss with her husband… and he better listen to her, or else he might be in for a long, long period of silence from her side.

_(Pagebreak)_

Time passed, perhaps slower for the Asgardians than for Lori. She never heard of Loki or the Avengers again. Sometimes she caught sight of an inconspicuous grey van driving slowly by her house, but they never made any contact. The only sign she got had come three days after her return home, in the form of a postal package with the logo of Stark Industries on it. It contained nothing but the silk scarf she had gotten from Loki. Ever since she wore the scarf with pride. Years went by, but Lori never forgot Loki's promise to return to her once…

**(Author's Notes)**

**So no, Learning to Share if not over (yet), but it's coming to an end. I expect at least one more chapter, but then it'll probably be done. Now, I do need you guys to review, otherwise I will wait a long long time before I finally post the (already written) reunion of Loki and Lori ;) PLEASE REVIEW! I love you all! I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for so long, but I was caught up in a bit of a harry potter craze. *sadface* sorry...**

**And yeah, Loki faces evil overlord Odin. I hope I did that scene right... **

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


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